Quiet Protector
by phoenixreal
Summary: AU: College. Ichigo gets the opportunity of a lifetime with a full scholarship to an American school. The only caveat is that he's gotten it through his uncle who has previously expressed intense dislike for him and his father. There is something going on, and others take notice before long, in particular Izuru. IzuruXIchi Warnings Inside.
1. Enamored from Afar

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

WARNINGS: Not Repeated

This story contains or may contain:

-Rape/Non-Con  
-Forced prostitution  
-Emotional Manipulation  
-BDSM (Non-Consensual)  
-BDSM (Consensual)  
-Lemon

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Enamored From Afar_

_September 9, 2014 (Three Weeks into Fall Semester)_

_University of Missouri, St. Louis_

"Kira, man, what the hell are you doing?" came a voice behind the slender blonde college junior.

Izuru Kira was shy, painfully shy and introverted, actually. His best friend, though, a fellow student named Shuuhei Hisagi, was not shy in the least. Hisagi wore his short black hair spiked and usually had on tight t-shirts and jeans. In contrast, Kira's hair was long and fell in his eyes often, and he usually wore loose slacks and polo shirts. Hisagi had a sixty-nine tattooed right on his cheek and a few other facial tattoos. He was also extremely proud to show off his Prince Albert piercing to anyone willing to look, and had several other facial piercings. Kira on the other hand had neither, though he admitted to finding them attractive on others. The pair could not have possibly been more different from each other. The things they shared in common were seemingly small compared to the things that separated them. A shared half Japanese heritage was what had originally brought them together since not many kids in first grade could speak two languages. It was a small thing, but it had been enough to forge a lasting and deep friendship between the two.

Kira turned to Hisagi and a blush shot across his cheeks. He was doing it again, and he knew that Hisagi was going to jump his case about it. He let the tree limb he'd been holding go and looked at his boisterous friend and brushed the blond hairs back from his eyes again.

"Were you spying on him again, Kira?" Hisagi said with a smirk, looking around the tree Kira was hiding behind. Not far away on the other side there was another boy. Sitting on the grass with a book open on his lap was a lanky freshman with glaringly orange hair.

Kira had first seen the freshman at orientation over the summer. He was an exchange student from Japan for the first time this year. Immediately he'd been entranced. He very rarely had that reaction to other students. Generally, the others he found attractive were American. However, he did fit his type of being on the effeminate side. There were several other Japanese kids in the group with him, but the orange hair stood out to Kira and everyone else. He'd been in Kira's group because Kira and Shuuhei always got the Japanese speakers because both were involved with the Japanese Student Association. Their school was actually the only one in the state to offer Japanese studies as a major, so often times they got more students that spoke the Asian languages than many of the other schools in the area. St. Louis was a pretty large city, and the schools there always drew in lots of foreign and local students. He seemed to remember something about this particular boy having been related to a professor and getting a full scholarship to come attend the science program. For the life of him he couldn't remember who it had been.

Kira shook his head and shifted his backpack. He sighed deeply and headed in the opposite direction, Hisagi trailing him. "Dude, you got the hots for him still?"

"I think he's cute," he said slowly as they came up to the vending machine where he bought himself a soda.

"So…you wanna fuck 'im?" Hisagi said, leaning back against the machine and arching one black brow at him. Again Kira blushed a bit. "So you just go up to him and tell him, man it isn't that hard. Just tell him you are dying to take out your cock and fuck him until he screams your name in absolute ecstasy."

"I can't just say that!" Kira said, flushing again.

Hisagi was always so forward about everything. He had never had a bit of trouble speaking his mind, no matter how much it got him in trouble or make others angry at him. It did, however, make it quite easy for him to approach women. He tended to either get slapped, or get laid, and sometimes he managed to do both. Kira was not about to be so vulgar or crass with such a delicate looking thing, however. In fact, he was never very verbal at all about his internal desires. Another way the two were different was Hisagi's tendency to pepper both his English and Japanese with expletives and creative phrases. Kira rarely said anything vulgar at all.

Hisagi rolled his eyes. "Works on the chicks I bang. Aren't you gay boys supposed, you know, dig the casual sex thing?"

Kira sighed. "I don't dig the casual sex thing. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to like casual sex. Way to grasp at stereotypes, dude. I prefer a relationship, unlike you who just screws anything with a vagina."

They made fun of each other all the time. Hisagi was completely happy sleeping with a different girl every night, ever since they'd been in high school it had been that way. He had a little black book a mile long, and more than one ready to come back to him the minute he called them. He had a sixty nine on his cheek for very good reason. He was known as quite the lady pleaser. It was a really good thing he wasn't going into a field like law with his look. It was going to be hard enough to get into forensics with his facial modifications. When asked, he'd respond that his resume would do all the talking for him and he didn't need to worry about his appearance.

Kira on the other hand had only dated a couple of guys in his time, and they always ended because Kira didn't just want the sex, he wanted to have someone that he could take care of, protect even. Perhaps that was why he went for the more feminine looking guys, thinking they perhaps wanted to be protected. It was a silly thing, of course. Appearances had little to do with desires. Considering his own appearance usually attracted more muscular and athletic guys, he was definitely at a disadvantage when looking for a partner. He didn't want a boyfriend that tried to top him or even one that tried to top from the bottom. He wanted to be in control, and considering his shy and quiet nature, finding that right person had been…difficult. He invariably went out with guys that assumed he was going to do what they said in the bedroom. Kira had trouble asking them out, he didn't have trouble telling them hell no once they were in the bedroom. More than once he'd tossed someone out of his bed when things weren't going the way he wanted, needed, them to go.

Even more than that, he wanted someone to depend on him. It was a strange need, but that's what he wanted; no, it was more than that, he needed that. He wanted someone that needed him as badly as he needed to protect someone. Hisagi had never understood that concept, and told him he just needed to find some needy bottom in a bar and go for it. He didn't want to do that. It wasn't that he hadn't done it before, it just left him feeling so empty and hollow afterward. Asking people out though was nerve wracking because he was scared stiff of asking out a straight guy. That had happened once when he was just starting college, and he'd ended up with a broken nose for it. Well, that was one of the reasons. There were many others, as well, his dad for one who believed that he was simply "confused". He always commented that he had obviously been confused since seven years old.

"Don't tell me you still worry about some asshole homophobe decking you again," Hisagi said as though he was reading his mind. "You've spent the last three years in tae kwon do, dude, you are not going to get decked that easy again. Besides, he just got the jump on you, is all. You were pussy blinded…er, is it cock blinded?" Hisagi said, scratching his head.

They headed off to their next class, and Kira muttered at him to just shut up about it. He'd do it when he got up the guts. He knew, of course, that that would probably never really happen. Hisagi often caught him staring longingly at guys and then tried very hard to encourage him to do something. Before he knew it, he'd see the boy he was after on someone else's arm. If it was a girl, he didn't feel too bad, but when it was a guy, he wanted to kick himself.

They took their seats, last two seats in the far left rows. It was a junior/senior level chemistry class. Both Kira and Hisagi were science majors, though Kira was going into medical science and Hisagi was going into forensic science. This had been the only class they could take together this semester so they'd used up an elective for it. They were talking and then the professor, Dr. Urahara clapped loudly and they looked up, Kira's eyes widening in shock because it was the orange haired boy he'd been fascinated with.

"Attention class, we've got a new student. I know it is unusual at three weeks into the semester to have a new student, but Ichigo here was a bit too advanced for his freshman chemistry class so he was tested into this level."

Hisagi and Kira exchanged glances. That was mildly impressive.

Dr. Urahara spoke to him and pointed out an empty seat in the middle row towards the back. Kira couldn't take his eyes off him. He seemed…different, though. His head was bowed and he slipped into his seat quickly, pulling his jacket up over his shoulder as it slipped down. When he did, Kira frowned because he swore there was a bruise around his forearm under the sleeve of his jacket. And why was he wearing a jacket, he thought, it was bloody well hot outside…

"Ichigo, would you introduce yourself to the class?" Urahara asked with a grin.

The boy looked up and swallowed nervously. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, b-bio-chem m-major."

Kira frowned and glanced at Hisagi who shrugged. Scared of public speaking, maybe? Urahara nodded, seeing that was all he was going to get out of him. He was a freshman, after all, he guessed. They went about the class, and Kira noted the way the kid seemed to avoid any and all attention. Kira kept glancing at him. He was cute, that was the only way he could describe him. He had big brown eyes and his skin was just slightly tanned. He was wearing a pair of tan pants and a dark t-shirt with a light jacket over them. He didn't seem to have a Japanese accent, which was no surprise; some of the foreign students had been speaking English as long as they'd been speaking Japanese. The rest of the class went on without a problem and toward the end Urahara clapped loudly.

"Attention students, because this is a two part class, I'll see all of you tomorrow during lab, but for the lecture portion, we are going to have a group project which will take up around seventy percent of your lecture grade," he said, getting pained groans from throughout the room. "Now, now, none of that. We've got eighteen students, so we'll be dividing into groups of three for this assignment. Loly, Tosh, and Luppi, you're group one. Franceska, Rukia, and Love, group two. Edrad, Illfordt, and Ggio group three. Ikkaku, Nelliel, and Emilou, you'll be group four. Yasutora, Di Roy, and Findorr, group five. And finally, group six, Shuuhei, Izuru and Ichigo. Now, please, meet with your groups for about five minutes before class ends, exchange numbers and email addresses and Wednesday we'll discuss the details of your projects."

Kira's heart flew to his throat and he choked. Hisagi looked over at him with an evil looking grin. Kira frowned and shook his head emphatically at his friend as he stood up and went over where the other student was sitting. He could tell by that look that Hisagi was determined to try and "wingman" again. This was not an uncommon occurance, and generally ended with Kira feeling abashed and ashamed in the end. They had to work together all semester! He did not want to end up feeling uncomfortable with his group partner, even though he actually did want to take him to bed and do all sorts of naughty things to him. He shook his head and realized that Hisagi was already over at his desk. Dammit, Shuuhei, he thought to himself.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Hisagi said, flopping into the desk in front of him. Ichigo started and looked up at him. Kira quickly grabbed his things and moved over beside him and pulled his desk across.

"Hi, don't mind him, he's a bit on the loud side," he told the younger boy. Ichigo looked at him for a long moment.

"You were at orientation," he said finally to Kira.

Kira grinned, happy to have been recognized. He nodded. "Yeah, I was helping out with the Japanese Student Association and doing the tours for the students coming into the program from Japan."

Ichigo's eyes didn't move for a long moment. "You're Japanese?"

Kira nodded. "My dad is, anyway. My mom's American. My dad works at St. Luke's here in the internal medicine department. I'm going to school for the same thing once I get into Wash U."

A small smile ghosted over Ichigo's face. "I want to go there too," he said quietly. "That's…that's why I'm here, my uncle…" Kira couldn't help but notice the pause and hitch in his breath. "He…he's the dean of business here, and I got a scholarship. B-but I had to leave my family back in Japan. When I gr-graduate they're coming to the US, though," he said. "My sisters will be out of school by then." He then stared at his hands thoughtfully.

"I'm in forensic science. I want to be one of those CSI guys like on TV, but I know that it isn't really like on TV, so don't bother telling me that," Hisagi said, seeing that Ichigo wasn't going to say anything else. "So, you got a girl back in Japan?"

Kira glared at him hard and Hisagi shrugged at him. Ichigo shook his head, flushing a bit. "No, I wasn't seeing anyone there. I have a lot of friends, though. This one girl that used to always try and get me to ask her out. She just didn't understand. I don't miss that k-kind of attention."

Urahara clapped from the front of the room. "Okay students, you are free to go if you like, but there's no class in here after us, so you can stay and get to know your group if you want to!" he said and headed out the door.

Ichigo stood up. "Um, nice to talk to you, gotta go, m-my uncle's picking me up," he said and ducked out the door with the crowd of people.

Kira looked after him. "Something's not right," he said to Hisagi as he stood.

"You worry too much, he's just intimidated by being in an upperclassmen class. Besides, did you hear that? Boy's gay, I know these things. I mean, he's in a new country with new people, things aren't going to be smooth at first," Hisagi said with a wave of his hand.

Kira shook his head. "No, that's not it at all, Hisagi, and I don't know what it is…"

_March 2014 _

_Karakura Town, Japan_

"It's a golden opportunity, son!" Isshin Kurosaki said across the dinner table to his oldest child. His twin daughters, Karin and Yuzu sat on either side of the seventeen year old boy.

Ichigo growled under his breath. "But the United States?" he said with a sigh. "I don't want to leave you guys for four years! I don't even know anyone there!"

Ichigo was trying to imagine missing his sisters and dad for that long. He barely went away for weekends as it was. Karin and Yuzu had been attached at the hip to him since their mom died, and he had honeslty thought that would never change. Here his dad was, though, suggesting turning everything he knew on its head. His left knee throbbed with the anxiety of just thinking of leaving home. He swallowed and tried to remember what he'd done with the anxiety meds he kept for emergencies.

"Son, your uncle is being very generous with this offer. He has the chance to help you get an extraordinary education for nearly no cost to you or us!" his dad continued.

"Pop, I don't even know Uncle Ryuken that well!" he complained, stabbing one of his chopsticks into a rice ball sullenly.

Isshin smiled. "He loved your mother dearly, and so he loves you and your sisters dearly. He and I never got along well, but he did care a great deal for your mother. That's why he's willing to let you stay with him while you go to school. He sees his dear friend and sister-in-law in you! He sees my beautiful Masaki. He also sees his own wife and your aunt in you."

Ichigo grumbled. It wasn't even like he was his real uncle. He was only his mother's brother in law anyway. The last time he'd seen him, he'd been nine years old just after his mother had died. He'd never forget the white haired man with his black haired son. He'd walked up to Ichigo's father and said terrible, horrible things about him and how his mom's death was all his fault, and that if he'd raised Ichigo better, it wouldn't have happened.

Ichigo had been nine at the time, and they'd been walking home in the rain after going to his karate practice. Ichigo was a complete mommy's boy. He never left her side when she was around and when she left him, no matter how short the time, he felt empty inside. She was the very light that his life revolved around. Then in a thunderous crack, it changed. He and his mom had been jumped by a mugger, and she ended up taking a bullet to the chest trying to protect him. He'd ended up with another bullet going through his knee and shattering it completely. He'd still been in the hospital during the funeral and had only been let out to attend, and then he had been confined to a wheelchair.

He'd never forget his uncle's accusing gaze when it fell on him. There was something in those eyes that chilled him through and through, and he thought he couldn't get any colder without his mother there. Ichigo's father had told him not to listen to what his uncle said because he was upset and hurt. He said that his uncle didn't mean any of those terrible things he said. Still, Ichigo had to wonder if his uncle still placed the blame for his mother's death on him. He certainly still blamed himself in many ways. It had, after all, been his karate practice they had been coming home from. Karate had been something he wanted to do. It had been so selfish, but he'd just wanted time with his mom by himself, away from his sisters and his dad. In the end, it had been the direct cause of her death.

Even still, Ichigo wasn't sure why his mom's death upset his uncle so much when not even his own wife's death seemed to faze him. They'd been to that funeral as well. Ichigo remembered how distraught his mom was and it seemed that his uncle, who had just lost his wife, couldn't have been more collected and stoic about it. He knew that his mom and Ryuken and his aunt had grown up together, so he supposed his uncle considered his mom his best friend or something. It still didn't explain why Aunt Kanae's death didn't seem to bother him.

Ichigo was so confused, then, to have his uncle invite him to the states like this. Had things changed since he'd gone to the states? Had he changed that much?

"I don't know, can I think about it, pop?" Ichigo said with a sigh.

"You can, but not too long, registration cuts off at the end of the week," he said.

Ichigo gaped. "What! I haven't even graduated yet!"

"I know son, but this is a United States school, and all the paperwork for a foreign exchange student has to be in by the end of March. You wouldn't be leaving until the end of July, and your uncle has said he'll pay for the plane ticket to get you there. You'd take the scholarship for four years at this University of Missouri in St. Louis where he works, then you can go on to Washington University, one of the US's best medical schools. And by the time you graduate the first school, the girls will be out of school and I'll have saved enough money to bring us across to stay with you!" his dad said with a grin.

Ichigo stood and nodded. "I'll tell you by the end of today, pop," he said and headed out to the park.

When he got there, his friends were sitting around laughing and talking. He plopped down beside Tatsuki with a frown. She leaned over and punched him in the arm. "What's up?" she asked.

He sighed and told his friends about his uncle's offer. Mizuiro and Keigo immediately started chatting about how awesome it was and Orihime looked slightly distraught. Ichigo knew it was because she had a crush on him. He couldn't worry about such silly things right now thought.

"You're going to take it right, _baka_?" Keigo said, leaning forward.

"I don't know, I mean, last time I saw this uncle it wasn't on good terms," Ichigo said, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully.

The other three exchanged glances, remembering vividly when Ichigo's mother had been killed. Ichigo himself had spent nearly six months between the hospital and rehabilitation just trying to get full use of his leg back afterward. The bullet had shattered his knee and he'd needed a replacement. Of course, Ichigo had been nine. That meant that he was still growing, and he spent most of his youth in pain of one sort or another, either from surgeries or his growing around the false knee that had been put in place. Of course, it had destroyed any hopes of sports or martial arts he'd had. He would have to have one to two more surgeries in the next few years as he hit his last growth spurts. He reached down unconsciously and rubbed his left knee. It was starting to ache already. It was a daily reminder of what had happened that changed his family forever.

Noticing Tatsuki looked up. "Will he get you the surgery you'll need on your knee?" she asked.

Ichigo nodded. "Pop told him about that, he said that there wouldn't be any trouble getting the last surgeries I'll need."

Tatsuki put an arm around her oldest friend. "Hey, either way, we're here for you, okay? And we're just a phone call away, you know, if you do go. I have to agree with your dad, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

By the time he got home later that evening he'd made up his mind. The chance to become a doctor was too attractive. He would never get such an opportunity again, no matter how well he scored on tests and exams. Also, the chance to travel to the United States was pretty awesome as well, and he knew that there, at least, his hair color wouldn't mark him as being someone weird. Granted, it wasn't like he cared. Between his hair and being the school's favorite "cripple" as he was often teased with, he honestly hadn't had a great time in school. Maybe a change would be good, and going somewhere where he could start out fresh. He still couldn't believe the stoic and dour man had made such an offer.

Before long he trudged up the stairs to tell his father he was going to accept it. His father cried, his sisters cheered and bawled when he turned his back. Then he headed up to his room and dug franticly through his desk until he located the prescription bottle he needed and dry swallowed three of them. The last time he'd taken them had been before the last fireworks festival. As usual, he calmed and then passed out into his bed.

_July 28, 2014 _

_St. Louis International Airport_

_4:00 pm_

"I guess I don't understand, Ryuken. I thought you swore to never have anything to do with the Kurosakis after Aunt Masaki was killed," Uryuu said with an exasperated sigh as they waited at the airport for the jet with his cousin on board.

Ryuken, Uryuu's father though his son had stopped using that name long ago, nodded. "I know that, son. But how can we blame a child for his father's idiocy?"

Uryuu glanced at his father. He didn't trust him at all. Something about the whole situation was off. Uryuu had left home as soon as he was able to move into the dorms after he graduated. After his mom died, they'd moved to America. Since then, he and his father hadn't gotten along. Then when they'd had to fly to Japan after his mom's sister had been murdered during a mugging, he'd become impossible to live with. It was like losing his wife had barely fazed him but for some reason losing his wife's sister destroyed him. Uryuu had spent most of his time outside the house after that point with his best friends Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika, Ikkaku's boyfriend. Ryuken randomly gone on rants about his brother in law and the bastard child that got his wife's sister killed. Uryuu never understood blaming the kid for his mother's death. Even at twelve years old, Uryuu had known his younger cousin couldn't have done anything. And now, he was letting that same "bastard child" that he'd blamed come live with him, free of charge? He'd even paid to have him flown from Japan. No, Uryuu didn't trust his father at all. Then again, Uryuu had raised himself after his mother died. Then a year later her sister had been killed. Something just didn't feel right about the whole situation.

Uryuu didn't know his cousin very well, but there was no mistaking that head of orange hair. He'd never seen someone that had such an obnoxious color naturally. Ichigo waved to them and Uryuu watched as his father smiled at Ichigo. Uryuu was even more suspicious. His father was not known to smile except when he was trying to manipulate business associates or when he was extremely self-satisfied over something.

"Ichigo," Ryuken said, bowing slightly at the boy. "I trust your flight was well?"

Ichigo smiled, nodding, obviously nervous. "Yes, I am still surprised at your generous offer, Uncle Ryuken," he said. "I must thank you once again," he said and bowed deeply at the white haired man.

Uryuu read the tension and saw the way he leaned on his right leg when he stood. He remembered then that he'd had his knee shattered when his mother died.

"Oh, I would do anything for my dear nephew, after all, we're the only family we each have left," Ryuken said with another smile. "How is your knee? I hope the long flight wasn't too hard on you."

Ichigo shook his head. "Oh, sore, but if it wasn't I'd be surprised. It won't be long before I have to have another replacement. Been three years since the last one."

"Yes, we'll handle that, my boy, don't worry, now, let's show you to your new home," he said with a grin.

Uryuu smiled at the younger boy and took his suitcase from him. "I'll get that, Kurosaki," he said with a small smile. Ichigo returned the smile, feeling a bit more comfortable with the less familiar use of his name.

"Uryuu, please. He's in America now, he needs to avoid using the Japanese style of address," Ryuken said with the built in annoyance that Uryuu was used to. Uryuu didn't think his father could talk to him without it.

He rolled his eyes at Ichigo. "Fine, Ryuken, whatever you want," he said with a sigh, following behind.

"He has to get used to the way we do things here, and the sooner the better, it will make his life a lot easier. You know that," Ryuken said as the two boys got into his car.

"Pop said that you don't use last names when you talk to people here that you know casually. It will take some getting used to hearing my first name used by people who I don't consider my friends already," Ichigo said, looking at the city as they drove through it to a suburban area to the west of the airport. Uryuu noted the slight tremble to his hands when he moved them.

They got out at a large house. Ichigo gaped a bit, because most the houses he was used to were compact. This was extravagant. Uryuu put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll get used to it. But to be fair, this is a big house even for America."

He nodded and followed them into the huge two story home. Ryuken turned. "Your bedroom will be the first one up the stairs to the left. Uryuu has a room here, though he lives on campus. You'll be going to the school with me each day, so I ask that you be ready by seven thirty am and waiting by the front door. I will pick up after your classes at four pm to come home. If you miss me for some reason, you're on your own to get home. I would suggest you not miss me, especially not at first. Once you're used to the city, you may wish to explore after classes, however, I advice against it at first."

Ichigo nodded. "_Hai_, sir," he said with a bow.

"And stop bowing. A simple nod of your head suffices," Ryuken said and headed off into his office.

Ichigo sighed and watched him go. He jumped when Uryuu put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, he's an asshole. So if you feel like complaining, you'll just have to call me. By next year, we'll get you set up in the dorms and you won't have to worry about him," Uryuu said and motioned for him to go ahead of him up the stairs.

It was a simple room, but it was bigger than Ichigo's in Japan. There was a double bed, small desk, a large closet that the meager clothes he'd brought wouldn't begin to fill, and a nightstand with a digital alarm clock. There was a built in bookshelf along the empty wall, and Ichigo was looking forward to filling it with his favorite Mangas and books. He smiled broadly and put his large suitcase on the bed and began to unload his things. His father had promised to ship him some stuff each month so he'd at least have the most important things to him. He smiled as he pulled out a small stuffed plush lion named Kon. It had been the last gift his mother had given him as a reward for getting his yellow belt in karate the week before she was murdered.

They talked while Ichigo unpacked, Ichigo telling Uryuu about what all had happened in his life in Japan. Then Uryuu talked about his own life in America, making sure to fill him in on what a bastard Ryuken was, and that he shouldn't feel bad for thinking so in the least. He heard the distinct rattle of a prescription bottle, and saw him set three on the desk by the bed.

Ichigo disappeared into the bathroom to put away his hygiene products and Uryuu picked up the first bottle. Hydroxizine. The instructions were to take one to three every four hours as needed for anxiety. He still heard Ichigo in the bathroom and glanced at the second. This one was labeled Tramadol and said to take in combination with NSAID for knee pain and gave similar instructions as the first. The last one was a bottle that was nearly empty with a label reading ropinirole. It just said to take once a day and didn't list a diagnosis. He looked up as Ichigo returned.

"Oh, I should put those up in the medicine cabinet," he said, picking them up and pausing. "Do I have to find a doctor here? Pop always got my prescriptions when I needed them."

Uryuu nodded. "Yeah, but you can go to the student wellness center and get it taken care of, that's where all the students go especially when they first get here.

He nodded. "Good. Hard to sleep some nights if I don't have my medicine," he said, disappearing into the bathroom again. Uryuu thought for a long time. The pain medication he understood, but he had an anxiety problem? He didn't like that with him living with Ryuken. That man gave Uryuu anxiety and he was hard to make anxious. He came back out and they continued hanging his clothes.

Finally, Ichigo was unpacked and they sat down on the double bed. Uryuu looked at him and shook his head.

"I don't get it, though," he said thoughtfully. "I don't understand why he offered to let you come stay here and go to school like this. He barely tolerated me, let alone invite someone else to live with him."

Ichigo shook his head. "I don't either, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, you know."

Uryuu looked at the younger boy thoughtfully for a long time. "Yeah, it really was, wasn't it?"

_August 13, 2014 _

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence, Chesterfield, MO_

_~1:00 pm_

The first thing that Ichigo realized was that Ryuken had perhaps one of the nosiest neighbors in existence. Her name was Gretchen O'Malley, and she was a widow who lived in the two story house closest to Ryuken's. They were separated by a fence and about two feet on either side of it. After Ichigo moved in, he caught her standing in her yard staring at him. He knew curiosity when he saw it, so he limped over to the fence (it was one of the days his knee was giving him more trouble than he could handle and hide it). He tried to avoid taking his pain medicine unless it was absolutely necessary. He'd already taken the Tylenol that his uncle gave him. He guessed it was the same thing he took in Japan, even if it was a different name. Once school started he'd go to this Student Wellness Center and see about getting things squared away. One of the things he'd brought had been his medical files.

"_Konnichiwa_!" he called and waved to her. She frowned as she came to the fence where he was standing. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, ma'am! I just moved here from Japan to stay with my Uncle Ryuken for school," he said with a bow to the older woman.

She smiled then. "Well aren't you polite," she commented, reaching a hand over the fence to shake his hand. He complied, getting used to the way Americans did things. "What are you going to school for?"

Ichigo smiled. "I'm a bio-chemistry major at the University of Missouri, but I want to be a doctor, so I'm going to Washington University when I finish there."

"Oh my, aren't you the ambitious one," she said, glancing up to see that Ryuken was standing on the porch of his house watching them talk. "I don't talk to your uncle much; he tends to keep to himself…"

Ichigo smiled. "He's rather abrasive," Ichigo acknowledged. "But I am very grateful he let me come to go to school here. It is a good opportunity to see the world and to get my education here in America. I never thought I would be able to leave Japan let alone get to come and stay here in such a wonderful house."

Gretchen smiled again, finding the boy's attitude infectious. She glanced down to see him standing entirely with his weight on his right leg, his left bent and resting against the other. "You have an injury?" she asked.

He looked confused then glanced. "Oh, that, I had to have my knee replaced when I was nine. Every so often I have to have surgery when I've grown too much for it, and I'm getting to the point of needing another."

She looked confused. "I thought they didn't do knee replacements on children," she said, knowing all too well the pain associated with the procedure. "I had mine replaced two years ago due to arthritis."

Ichigo nodded. "They don't, but mine was shattered beyond repair, so they had to do something. I actually lost more than the portion that is normally replaced in a replacement surgery, but it was to be expected."

"Goodness me, what in the world happened to shatter your knee that young?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Ichigo's face changed for a moment and he swallowed. "Um, a mugging, I was shot in the knee with a high caliber, it pretty much destroyed it. I was lucky they were able to fix it so I could walk, there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to fix it."

Gretchen was nosy but she knew a sensitive subject when she saw one, and the pained look that passed over his face was unmistakable. It was the look of someone who had lost more than a knee. She reached over and patted his shoulder. "Well, you just take care of it, my dear. And anytime you feel like it come by and have tea with me."

"Ichigo," Ryuken called from the house. "Orientation is beginning soon. We must go," he said with a scowl on his face at his neighbor.

She watched them go, but what she definitely didn't miss was the look on her neighbor's face when he watched the boy get into his car. It was slightly chilling and she couldn't identify it. It wasn't the look of a man who generously offered to let his nephew stay with him while he went to school. There were a lot of things in the look, scorn and dislike among them. She made up her mind that she was going to keep a close eye on that boy. She knew that Ryuken's son and he did not get along, and he rarely visited, and most the time when he did, the visit ended with them arguing and the boy leaving. Something wasn't quite right, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was…


	2. Not What He Intended

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

_Not What He Intended_

* * *

_September 16, 2014 _

_UMSL: Chemistry Class_

_~2:45 pm_

A week passed and Kira and Hisagi found themselves once again wondering just what was going on with their group member, and Kira's current crush. If they'd thought the week before he'd been reserved and withdrawn, he was almost catatonic this week. He walked in and sat down and stared directly at his desk all during class. The week before on Wednesday and Friday, he had seemed more talkative, telling them about his family in Japan and what he liked to do when he was there. He avoided talking about his uncle, though. It seemed anything his living arrangements were brought up he immediately diverted the subject to something else.

In fact by Friday, they noticed he had come out of his shell quite a bit and seemed much happier. However, now, he wasn't acting the same way at all. When they got into groups, he answered their questions but he avoided looking at either of them directly, and both the older boys noted that he was still wearing the jacket and keeping it buttoned up all the way this week. By Friday he had lost the jacket, and they'd noticed that he had a dim, fading bruise on one of his arms, but it wasn't very dark.

"Ichi," Kira said, looking at him closely as class ended. He didn't look up with more than his eyes. "You okay?" he asked.

"M'fine," he said and got up and headed for the door as soon as Urahara announced class was dismissed.

"Grab my stuff," Kira said as he jumped up and followed him to see where he was going.

They had an afternoon class, so it let out close to four. Kira didn't have much trouble catching up, though. He stood back out of the way as he stopped and leaned heavily against the building for a moment then he kept going. It was obvious now that he had something really wrong with his left leg. He trailed him quietly and quickly, using the crowds to hide him from anyone that might see him and wonder if he was following someone. He realized they were heading to the staff parking lot, and kept with him until Ichigo nearly fell off a curb where a white haired man was waiting with crossed arms.

"Sorry, Uncle, Dr. Urahara didn't let us out until ten minutes until four," he heard him say, his breath slightly labored from his rush.

"And I've told you to not be late. Next time I'll leave you here and you get to figure out how to get back to my house," he said, and Kira heard the positive venom dripping from his words.

Ichigo nodded and winced as the white haired man reached out and yanked him by his arm into the parking lot. "Ow, Uncle, please, that…"

Kira flinched as his uncle turned and slapped him hard with his free hand. "Shut up. You don't talk to me unless you're told to, remember? Or did you forget already?"

"N-no…" he stammered.

"Now, we've got a little party to go to tonight," he said, reaching for the door and even as far away as Kira was he saw the expression on the boy's face change into true fear as he shook his head just slightly. His uncle looked at him. "You're popular, what can I say? And I've got a contract written up already for you," he said, and shoved him into the passenger seat. Kira didn't miss the wide eyed look on his face as his uncle got into the driver's seat and left.

Kira stepped out and stood there for a long moment then went to the food court to find Hisagi. Hisagi had already grabbed food for both of them and sat down in their usual seat. Kira came and sat down heavily across from him. Hisagi waved a hand in front of his face.

"What's up?" he asked with a frown. "You shot out of there after your baby like a shot. You corner him and fuck him that quick?" he said with a sly grin, but it faded as he saw Kira wasn't up for joking.

"I'm not sure what I just saw," Kira answered, looking up from the sushi plate Hisagi had gotten him.

_Thursday, August 14, 2014 _

_One month, two days ago_

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence_

Orientation had been so much fun. Ichigo had met students from all over the world, and ended up signing up for the Japanese Student Association. He'd met a lot of people that spoke Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, and some were fluent in all of them, which he thought was awesome. He could speak some Cantonese, and little bit of Korean, but he hadn't leaned the kanji for all. He was starting to feel less nervous about the whole situation, but he was still feeling odd when he was with his uncle. It was like he was watching him all the time. He felt he wasn't alone, either, much of the time when he should have been. He just couldn't shake it, no matter what he did. It was August, and the week before school began. When he had gotten his books he had decided to dive into reading his textbooks ahead of time. Having so much time off was odd to him. By now he was almost through the books for the five classes he was taking…

He heard a knock and looked up to see Uryuu. He smiled and sat up on the bed. "Hey Uryuu!" he said, smiling.

Uryuu always looked so serious. "How's it going?" the older boy said, sitting down on the bed beside him.

Ichigo nodded. "Good, I've joined the Japanese Student Association, and one for exchange students, and got to meet the teachers I'll have…" he said with a broad smile. "I had a really good time, and met a whole bunch of students that speak Japanese. Our group leader for the day was this blonde named Kira, he's a junior. He was really nice to us all day!"

"Kira, yeah, I think I have him in one of my classes," Uryuu said thoughtfully. "Blonde guy? Kinda quiet?"

Ichigo smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's him. He and this other black haired guy had all the Japanese students coming in. There weren't a whole lot of us, but you know. Most of us don't know anything about America…" he said with a smile, flopping on the bed and grabbing the stuffed lion.

"That's cute, where'd you get it?" Uryuu said, pointing to the lion.

"Oh, Mom gave it to me before she died. Its getting a little ratty, and I keep having to sew him up, but I'm not very good. The stitches keep falling out," he said, frowning at the toy.

Uryuu smiled. "Give him here, and your sewing kit," he said softly.

Ichigo's brow wrinkled and he handed him Kon and pulled out a travel kit he kept with him in case Kon got another hole. Uryuu spent a few minutes and then put it away, handing back the toy. Ichigo gasped. He couldn't even see where the holes and frayed edges had been. He smiled at Uryuu.

"Thanks!" he said, putting the lion back on the bed. "I didn't know you could do that!"

Uryuu shrugged. "Don't tell Ryuken, he'd call me a fruit for liking to sew. He doesn't know I changed my major last year either."

Ichigo sat down beside him. "You did? What was your major?"

Uryuu smiled. "I was a math major. Last year I couldn't take it anymore, Ryuken wanted me to be an accountant or something that made money. I want to be in fashion design. So I changed, and had my advisor keep it quiet. He knows Ryuken and knew he wouldn't take the news well that I'd gone into fashion."

Ichigo nodded. "I want to be a doctor. I think. I mean, I guess. What else would I be?" Ichigo said suddenly looking up in thought. "I mean, I've always wanted to be a doctor. I want to be a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and do reconstructive surgery so I can help kids that have stuff happen to them like I did."

They were quite for a long moment and Uryuu debated talking to Ichigo about what he really came here to talk about. For one, he didn't want his cousin to believe his only interest was because he was checking up on him. Uryuu genuinely had taken a liking to his cousin, to be honest, and he wanted to get him out of Ryuken's house as soon as he could. To be honest, if he hadn't already had a full apartment, he would have insisted he come live in the Meadows with him and Renji. However, Yumichika and Ikkaku were living with them this year.

"How's Ryuken been treating you?" he asked, the serious look returning.

Ichigo shrugged. "Fine, I mean, I don't see him much. I'm up here reading most the time on my stuff for my classes."

Uryuu nodded and smiled at him. "So you meet anyone interesting? I mean, surely there's a girl or two that have caught your eye already, cousin."

Ichigo blushed. "Nah, I'm not really into that sort of stuff."

Uryuu wondered what exactly that meant. "Okay, then did you see a boy or two that caught your eye?" he asked and watched as the blush deepened. He smiled to himself, self-satisfied. So that was it.

"Just more worried about classwork, you know," he said, keeping his eyes on the textbook he had just picked up nervously.

Uryuu nodded and left him to his reading and headed downstairs. He still had that gut feeling something wasn't quite right with the whole situation. Otherwise he wouldn't have come to see his father until Thanksgiving. At the earliest. He saw his father sitting at his laptop at the bar. "Ryuken, how are you?"

"I was wondering if you were going to bother asking after your father or just the boy," he said, not looking up from the computer.

Uryuu sighed. "Yeah, I have student government, I'll see you later Ryuken," he said stepping out and noting that the old lady next door was watching him. She looked away when he looked over at her. Gretchen, he thought. He made his way around and over into her yard instead of to his car. She looked up from her tea where she sat on the porch.

"Ms. O'Malley," he said. "Might I ask a favor of you?"

She blinked in confusion. As long as she'd lived next to the Ishidas, neither had ever come into her yard, and definitely neither had asked anything of her.

"What is it, dear?" she asked, looking up at the dark haired boy.

"This is my phone number," he said handing her his student government business card. "I'd like you to call me if anything…odd happens with my cousin."

"Odd?" she asked, looking down at the number and back up to him.

"Anything," he said, glancing at the house. "Doesn't matter what."

He trotted down the steps and got into his car, a little white Toyota, and drove away. She watched him go and had no idea that the first call she'd be making to the number on the card would be the following Sunday.

_Friday, August 15, 2014 _

_One month one day ago_

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence_

Ichigo had fallen asleep on his books again, sprawled out on his bed in his boxers. Ryuken looked in and smirked. Yes, this would work perfectly. He already had a couple pictures he'd snuck. One of the boy sitting by the window reading, and another when he'd fallen asleep on the couch in his yukata. He hadn't gotten a good picture of him partially clothed yet. This would be perfect to entice his clients. He stepped into the room and used his phone to take a silent picture. He nodded in satisfaction. Not bad for a phone picture, he thought to himself. He headed downstairs and sat down on his laptop and glanced at the clock. It was Friday night, and if all went well, tomorrow night would see the first of the plan he'd put into place taking off, if a certain client of his took the bait, and baiting him he was. He hummed to himself, transferring the image he'd just taken from his phone into the email along with the other two. The email was put through a proxy server, and the addresses scrambled. The last thing he needed was to be caught at his vice, and for a dean in the largest state school in the city, it was one hell of a vice. However, it wasn't like he was new at this game.

"Saturday. Agreed location. Price for admission is usual, with one exception. Highest bidder gets special treatment. Once in a lifetime. Steady sub product, no more revolving doors."

He sent it and watched it work through the system with a satisfied smirk. He looked up to see Ichigo come down from upstairs, his light blue yukata wrapped around him and yawning. He blinked wearily.

"I'm sorry uncle, did I miss dinner?" he asked, looking around, still half asleep.

"Ah, yes, but there is a plate in the fridge, my boy," he said, smiling at him. Ichigo was still half asleep with imprints of the books lining his face but he still felt a strange chill over him at the smile Ryuken wore.

Ichigo rummaged and grabbed something and sat down beside him at the counter. "Oh, my boy, we'll be going to a small get together tomorrow night. Just a little fun party. You'll get to meet some important people. Dress in something nice, okay?"

Ichigo nodded, not completely conscious at the moment. He ate the leftover salad and headed back upstairs to fall asleep again. Ryuken nodded to himself as the confirmations and bids came through. Five, it looked like, and the highest bidder was 100,000 so far. To his delight, the person he was hoping would bid high was the one with that fat bid. He sent out an email announcing the highest bidder's amount. Before long, a second round came back, three of the five bowing out but one bidding 125. Again, he sent the round, and the original bidder came back with 150. This time, there were no counterbids. He quickly sent out a mail stating that bidding was closed and the high bidder would receive a private email.

Ryuken wondered if he could pull this off. He was playing a dangerous game with this man. He was the deputy mayor and could certainly make his life miserable. But then, Ryuken had enough records of him buying his whores to make his life miserable in turn. He smiled and typed out his letting.

"Congrats, you have won bidding. Since I know of your interest, I was wondering if you would be interested in a consensual non-consent contract? The boy is not good at English, though he understands it well enough and has conversational level, so I am doing the negotiations on his part. He is also quite submissive and cannot bring himself to talk to others about his desires. Your purchase is not affected by this, however, I would be very willing to allow him to spend a short period with you, for a small price, should you wish to undertake training."

He sent it off and a reply came quickly. "You know this is not the way things are done. I'll talk to the boy myself."

Ryuken couldn't allow that at all. He mustn't even come close to interacting on a more than acquaintance level, otherwise his plan would fall through. He smiled and jumped up and headed back upstairs and found that the boy had fallen asleep on his back this time sprawled across his bed. Ryuken reached down and undid the obi on his yukata and pulled it open, being careful to not wake him up. He gently and carefully pulled his boxers down lower on his hips, just enough to glimpse the trail of orange fuzz on his belly leading under the band. He knew too well how to get this person's attention. He took several pictures of him like that, returning and sending them along to the man he was working.

A few minutes later Ryuken was smiling. "I'll do it," the email said simply. Ryuken knew that he couldn't resist long enough. The man was a shameless pervert for boys that looked like they were less than legal age, and Ichigo, with his smooth chest and slight figure, fit the bill perfectly. He would do anything to get more than one fuck out him, and Ryuken knew it. He was most enthused about the large amount of money he was paying for the first night.

Not too bad, unfortunately this was a once in a lifetime break. Ah well, he thought with a sigh. He'd make the best of it. Of course, if he got caught, it wouldn't matter. That's why using his nephew was so much better than blackmailing other students into it… He was much less likely to get caught when he could ensure the silence of the boy. And he knew exactly how to ensure his silence.

_Saturday, August 16, 2014 _

_One Month Ago_

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence_

Ichigo woke up on Saturday morning and was wondering what his uncle meant by a little get together or party. He knew that it was probably some stuffy event with other college professors or businessmen. What in the world else would it be? He highly doubted that his uncle did _anything _fun in his spare time. He shrugged it away, finding something to eat in the kitchen, toast and jam, and wandered back upstairs.

He'd finished his chemistry, biology, sociology and psychology texts, so now he was reading his English lit texts. School was starting this next week, and he wanted to at least have the texts read before he started classes. His uncle and Uryuu had both told him that he wasn't expected to have finished them by the start of classes, but honestly, what else was there to do? His uncle didn't want him leaving the house alone yet, though he really didn't understand that. He assumed he was just being overprotective. It was something that happened a lot to him considering the condition of his leg. Most people thought he was incapable of taking care of himself. It wasn't that…well it was, he thought sullenly as he sat down on his bed rubbing his already throbbing knee. If he got in trouble it wasn't like he could run from anyone.

Not to mention that the mere sight of guns or things that sounded like guns scared him witless still. His Uncle had told him sternly that there were certain parts of this city where there was a lot of gun violence. That alone was enough to keep him from leaving the house alone. The fourth of July had been terrible. He hadn't known about the fireworks ahead of time and had been outside when they started. He'd scrambled into the house getting an odd look from their nosey neighbor because he nearly ran into the door. He had spent the next five hours locked in the bedroom sitting inside the closet with his headphones in his ears and his Jpop playlist on full blast. He knew it was childish, but he couldn't help it. He'd already used all of his hydroxyzine since he got to the states. He found that his uncle's unpredictable nature gave him some serious issues.

He went downstairs to find his uncle gone again. He guessed he had the house to himself again. He grabbed a book and went to sit out on the porch and read for a while. Before he knew it the day had gone and he looked down at the cell phone his uncle had given him. It beeped and he picked it up to see it was from his uncle. He only had two numbers in it so far, his uncle and Uryuu.

"Yes, uncle?" he answered, standing and heading back inside.

"Please be dressed when I get home, we'll be leaving right away, my boy," he said with a snap to his tone.

"Ah, yes, uncle," he said and hung up and ran up the stairs and looked at his clothes. He didn't have a huge selection, and he wasn't sure exactly what "dress nice" meant. He shrugged and took out a button down shirt that was white and blue striped and a pair of his darkest jeans. He only had his sneakers, so it wasn't like he could do much else. He was just finishing tying his shoes when his uncle came in the door.

"Let's go," he said curtly and motioned for him to leave.

"Okay, uncle," he answered, pushing himself to his feet and still wondering where exactly he was going.

As they got outside he stumbled and managed to catch himself on the rail of the step. Ryuken glared at him with the snidest look on his face. Ichigo swallowed and continued down to follow him. Why was the man so unpredictable? He glanced over and saw the curtain pulled back next door a bit. He guessed his neighbor was really nosey… He got in and buckled his seat belt and found that his uncle was staring at him.

"Um, it's the best I had with me uncle, is it okay?" he asked. He didn't want to come off as ungrateful to him by seeming to indicate he should have bought new clothes for him.

He grunted and nodded, starting the car and taking off into the darkness. They drove for a long time, it seemed, at least an hour, and they were in a more rural looking area now. He wanted to ask where they were, but from the set of the white haired man's jaw he didn't think that was a good idea. He'd already found that when he was in this type of mood, questions were received quite poorly. More than once his uncle had slapped him across the face. At first it surprised him because his father had never hit him or his sisters. He knew, though, that not all parents eschewed corporal means of punishment, and maybe it was the way it was in America. So he just accepted it as the way it was. He had no other basis to offer a different perspective. It wasn't like it left a mark or anything, honestly it was more surprising than anything.

Before long they pulled into a long driveway up to a big house with a large amount of space around it. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, he thought as he looked around it. Ryuken got out and Ichigo followed him, slightly nervous at not knowing what was happening.

They entered the house to find several people seated around in the living room. Ryuken shoved him into the room and followed. "Hello, gentlemen, may I present my nephew, Ichigo. He'll be joining us tonight. Ichigo, these are some important people, so please do your best to be polite. And do excuse him for any problems. He is new at this, and also doesn't speak much," his uncle said with a harsh look at him. Ichigo was quite familiar with that look. It meant it was best to keep his mouth shut as much as possible.

Ichigo nodded, having no clue what was happening. One of the men, a man with short hair and looked to be in his fifties or sixties, waved him over to where he was sitting. Beside him sat a man with longish brown hair with a slight wave to it. Ichigo bowed to them both. "Hi," he said, trying his best to be polite.

"I'm Baraggan Louisenbairn, boy. I own a few of the factories in town. Quite an honor for your uncle to bring you to meet with us," he said with a grin at him. Ichigo felt slightly uncomfortable with that, however.

The other man smiled. "Ryuken mentioned you were from Japan. My family was originally from there, but moved to Hawaii long ago. I'm Sōsuke Aizen, good to meet such a good boy," he said with a grin similar to the older man. This guy though looked to be in his thirties or forties. Ichigo shifted uncomfortably as they seemed to be looking him over intently.

"Now, now, Aizen, Louisenbairn, no keeping the boy to yourselves all night," came a deep voice and Ichigo saw a really tall dark skinned fellow with a perfectly bald head. "Name's Zommari Rureaux, but please, call me Zom, everyone does." Ichigo nodded, wondering who this guy was. "Now while Sōsuke over there plays politics, I'm one of the police commissioners. So we spend a lot of time working with each other," he said and Ichigo flinched when the man's hand rested on the middle of his back. That was a little odd, but he supposed the guy's name sounded French, so maybe he was just overly friendly?

Ichigo was quickly becoming more and more uncomfortable, though, because it was like everyone in the room was focused on him. Besides his uncle, there were five total in the room, and while they spoke to each other quietly now and then, more often than not, their gaze would turn on him. To be honest it was a little offsetting. He swallowed as the bigger man steered him over toward a couch where a couple other men were sitting. One was a rather petite looking man with very pale skin and vivid green eyes. The other was a tall thin man with long dark hair and an eye patch over his right eye.

"Ichigo, this is Ulquiorra Cifer and Nnoitra Gilga. They are both associates of mine in the police department. Nnoitra is a chief and Ulquiorra is one of my best vice detectives," the big dark man said with a smile.

"Wow, that's pretty cool. I've never met people that work in the police department before," Ichigo said with a smile.

Ryuken came over and handed something to Ichigo to drink, or rather shoved it into his hand and gave him a harsh look. He was talking too much, he imagined. He nervously sipped it and winced. He glanced at Ryuken who was giving him the look that said to be grateful for what he'd been given. It was some form of alcohol, which was odd because he thought the drinking age here in the US was twenty one. He smiled wanly and sipped it again as the men talked around him. The fact that this Zommari was standing with his hand against his back was starting to get a little bit weird. Then his head started to spin. He wobbled and felt the hand on his back steady him.

"Ah, the boy can't hold his liquor," the dark haired man with the eye patch said. "Or did your uncle slip something more in that glass for you to relax a little?"

The world spun as he felt himself sitting on someone now and he shook his head. He was on the one named Nnoitra's lap. Why was he on his lap? He heard Ryuken laugh. "A little of both, I'm afraid. He's much too tense, and he's never drank before."

"What…hey…" he said, pushing on the man's hands. "Lemme up…" he said, feeling strange.

"Nah, boy, time to get what we paid for," he whispered into Ichigo's ear, and he felt the man's hand groping his crotch.

He froze and wondered just what was happening. "Now, now, Nnoi, no fun until you've paid. Give him here, I'll get him set up for tonight."

He felt the world spin and he was being drug stumbling off the man's lap toward a doorway. It was wavering though. Then the door opened and he realized it was a bedroom. He was shoved forward onto the bed where he landed with an oof on his stomach. He felt his hands snatched by Ryuken and something clamped around each of his wrists. He got enough thought to look up and see they were leather cuffs, restraints of some sort.

"Uncle," he whimpered. "I don't understand…What's happening?"

He felt the world spin sickly again and the chains above him clinked. He was on his back now and Ryuken was looking at him. "You see, my boy, I despise you. You and your godforsaken family are everything I detest in the world. I hate your father most of all, though. He stole away the only woman I ever loved, you know. I can't very well get him into this position, so I'll use you instead. You, who my wife's sister died protecting. Well, if she had to die, I will get something out of you in payment. And this, this is your payment. That man out there, Aizen, paid one hundred and fifty thousand to be the one to take your virginity. He's a real pervert; he never likes the girls I provide. He'd rather fuck a boy, and he only likes the ones that are like you and look younger than they are. He's also a sadist, so he will hurt you. And the rest, they all paid twenty five hundred to be able to fuck you," he said, trailing one hand down his chest and popping open his buttons on the shirt as he went.

"Now normally, I bring them boys and girls who've really messed up and in order to get out of trouble, they'll do anything. I've made plagiarism go away, I've made failing grades disappear, I've even had a couple that ended up in trouble for doing drugs in the bathroom get off scot free, and I even had a boy that got caught raping a girl in the boys' bathroom off for spending three night here. So for the small price of being the party slut for one night or more, I make all their troubles go away. Now you, of course, you're special. Now I don't need to take chances with students anymore. Because you're going to be a good slut and you won't say a fucking word to anyone. Do you know why?" he said, leaning forward close enough that Ichigo felt his breath on his face.

"I've got money. And as you can see, I have contacts, and that's only five of them. I can easily arrange for a horrible accident to happen to your father and your sisters. Or better yet, I could have your father killed, and then your sisters brought to live with me, after all I'm their only living relative, and then I can drag them here to be used as my party sluts instead of you. As you can see, no one will listen to you. The cops take part, and more than one professor at the school does as well. Aizen is the deputy mayor. I have doctors, lawyers, you name it, and they come to this little place because it's safe for them to get their perverted satisfaction of fucking a kid. You wouldn't believe the amount of people who will pay to do what these men are doing," Ryuken reached down and wiped a tear away from his face. "Now, don't struggle too much. It won't hurt as much that way. And they will hurt you if you struggle. That's why I gave you a little opium to mellow you a bit, and I'll give you another dose when we leave. The first time is always the hardest, but you'll get used to it quickly."

Ichigo's eyes were wide and tears were streaming from them already. "Why? Why do you do this?"

Ryuken smiled and shrugged. "I'm looking forward to a nice, long retirement in the Caribbean in the next year or two. I've had some financial issues, and I really need to get out of the country as soon as possible. Your virginity fuck is going to put me a whole lot closer, my dear boy. Here," he said, taking out a ball gag from the drawer next to the bed and forcing it into his mouth. "You're too new to be trusted with sucking cock, yet. But they didn't pay for that, not this time. That will come later. I certainly can't have you biting anyone, now can I? Certainly puts a crimp in my business if I have people go about telling everyone my sluts bite people when they don't ask to be bitten. I normally don't have to tie up the sluts unless the clients ask me to do it, but you'll probably fight no matter how much I threaten you or your family. I don't blame you, though, because you're actually giving me a chance to make more if you fight. Just not too much, you hear?"

He stepped back and stared and went for his jean button. Ichigo started to thrash away from him but Ryuken put a hand against his throat with light pressure and shook his head. Ichigo's vision started to fade and the pressure was released. Ryuken had him stripped of his jeans and his boxers in a moment, pausing to smile. He was quite a fit boy, to be honest. Even with the bad leg, he'd managed to keep himself in shape and while he wasn't gifted with rippling muscles, he had a soft, smooth look to him. Of course, this was preferred by the perverts he dealt with. Ryuken hummed as he took his ankles and pulled them up, lashing them to the back of his thighs with an intricate set of knots. Ichigo moaned as his knee shot pain up and down his left leg. Ryuken patted it gently.

"I know, but next time you'll remember to be good and I won't tie you like this. I'll pick up a brace for you tomorrow, since I'm sure you'll need it, now be good for Mr. Aizen. He paid good money for this, after all, and if he likes you, you'll be seeing a lot more of him," he said, leaving him like that.

Panic wasn't something Ichigo often felt. The exception was gunshot sounds. Even then, he was never as panicked as he was with the door opened again to admit the man he'd met earlier. He looked at him with a look that sent a chill down Ichigo's back. There was a hard set to his jaw and his eyes were piercing.

"I paid for a virgin. Are you?" Aizen said, circling the bed. "Because if I paid money to fuck a virgin and if you aren't one, I'll slit your throat here and then go in the next room and slit your uncle's throat."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he felt like he was going to pass out. He nodded his head vigorously. He was half tempted to tell him no so his uncle got what he deserved, but he honestly didn't want to die like this. The sheer embarrassment of being found in this position… He couldn't fathom it. Aizen sat down beside him, running hands over his rapidly rising and falling chest.

"I don't doubt it because you're scared, aren't you?" the brunette said with a soft smile.

Ichigo nodded again, fighting back against the bile rising in his throat. "They always are at first," Aizen said, trailing his fingers down into his navel and probing it gently at first then almost painfully. "You're very pretty, you know. He sent us a few pictures before tonight to up the bidding. I couldn't let you go to one of the others. He hasn't brought such a lovely boy to these parties in a long time. I only come to them when there's a pretty boy like you," he said, fingers trailing down further to play with the trail of fine hair leading from his belly button down to the thicker nest below. "I usually don't take these kind of things on without direct negotiation, but it was far too tempting for me to resist. Now, you'll get your fondest wish, my sweet little slut. After tonight, you'll be such a good little slut everyone will want to take you fuck you senseless. And you will love it, won't you?"

Ichigo flinched violently when he touched him on the crease between his thigh and pelvis. Aizen smiled. "You've never been with anyone have you? No girls or boys?"

Ichigo swallowed as best he could, felling spit dripping around the edges of the gag down his face. He shook his head. Aizen nodded, sliding his hand down further to feel each dip and crevice of his body. Ichigo couldn't hold back a whimper as his finger ran over his entrance. "Oh, you are going to be fun," Aizen said, standing and disrobing, his cock already thick and dripping. Ichigo started to shake his head violently. No way was that going to fit inside him. He'd touched himself a little bit, even tentatively explored himself, but that…

"Oh don't worry, sweet boy. I've done this many times. Deflowering is perhaps my favorite thing…" he said, crawling onto the bed between his legs and pushing on his knees to part them further. Ichigo cried out against the gag because it hurt when he pushed on his knee like that.

He wasn't gentle, and he wasn't kind, and he smiled when Ichigo screamed at the violent way he took him. Of course, a perfect sadist, he was only happy when he made them bleed. When he was done, Ichigo hoped it was over, but the he remembered that the others had paid… Aizen left and he tried to will the pain away. The door opened again and he whimpered and wanted to pass out as the one with the bright green eyes looked him over. He turned his head and tried to imagine anything else but the pain burning through him. He didn't feel his knee any longer.

_Sunday, August 17, 2014_

_One Month Ago (Minus a few hours)_

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence_

_~3:00 am_

It was nearly three am when Ryuken's car returned home. Gretchen had fallen asleep in the chair by the window but the lights woke her up. She blinked, glancing at the clock. She turned and opened the window enough to see out. Ryuken got out first then practically drug the boy out of the car. He stumbled and was shoved roughly forward. She couldn't see much but his shirt was open. The dim light made it impossible to see anything else. His limp was far more pronounced, though, and he leaned heavily on the railing when he walked up the stair. The door closed with an audible slam and she wondered what exactly that had been about.

She picked up the phone as soon as she woke the next morning, dialing the son's number.

"Hello?" came his familiar tone.

"Yes, Uryuu?" she asked.

"Oh, Ms. O'Malley. I didn't expect a call so soon," he said, sounding slightly annoyed.

She could understand. She knew she was nosey, and to be honest, she never once attempted to deny or disguise that fact. Watching people had always been a fascination of hers, ever since she was a young woman. It wasn't that she wanted to know what they were doing so much as she wanted to watch reactions and emotions play out. Her husband had been a St. John's surgeon, and though she'd never finished school, psychology and sociology had always been her favorite subjects.

"You said to call about anything odd, I think what happened last night quite well qualifies," she said slowly. "Your father took your cousin out at around eight last night, and they didn't return until three am," she said.

"What?" Uryuu said, all trace of annoyance gone. "What the hell is he doing going somewhere at that time of night?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

"Yes, well, your cousin, he didn't look so well when they returned. It was too dark to see, but he wasn't too steady on his feet, and his shirt was barely hanging on him."

"Thank you very much, Ms. O'Malley. Please, please, call me if you find out anything. I don't know what's happening, but I don't like it."

She hung up and glanced next door. She saw that the boy had come out wearing the robe-like thing that he wore in the mornings; she forgot what he'd called it. He was just sitting on the step of the porch staring into the distance with his knees tucked to his chin. She'd never seen him come outside without a book. She wanted to say something to him, but what was she going to say? She didn't want him to know she'd been spying on him, and if something bad had happened, she doubted he would talk to her. She would have to trust his cousin. She wanted to walk over and sit down beside him. She wanted to hug him to her tightly and tell him that everything would be alright. There was something about the way he sat, something completely defeated and alone.


	3. Parties

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_Parties_

* * *

_UMSL: Chemistry Lab_

_Tuesday, September 16, 2014 _

_Today: 3:00 pm_

"He's absent," Kira said to Hisagi after the first hour of class had passed.

Kira had been tense ever since the afternoon before. They had gone back to their apartment at the Meadows, and the rest of the night, Kira had spent the night on the computer googling Ichigo, his uncle, and everything he could think of to see if anything would give him a clue as to what was going on to him. In the end the only information he uncovered was that Ichigo's father was a well-known family doctor in a small Japanese city named Karakura Town, and the reports where his mother was murdered that appeared in the news when he was nine years old. There weren't really a lot of official records, even in Japanese. At the moment, he was very glad that he could read Japanese as speak the language. Hisagi sucked at reading and writing it.

What he had found out was that Ichigo's knee had been shattered in the attack that resulted in the death of his mother. It had taken reconstructive surgery and a full replacement to allow him to even be able to walk afterward. He'd taken a 9mm bullet that had gone right through his kneecap at less than two feet away. The kneecap and all the surrounding bone and tissue had been shredded. From what he found out doing more research into the surgery he'd had, it was not done on children. What little he did find, said that doing that kind of surgery required constant surgeries as he grew old and his bones grew. That certainly explained the limp he had.

In researching Ryuken Ishida, he came across conflicting information. There were a lot of articles about his business acumen since he received his work visa to com the US and teach. He was mentioned in a lot of the area businesses as having done consulting work. It appeared that his reception was generally quite favorable. Then, he ran across other articles of a more personal nature, stating that the man was an absentee father at best, and downright abusive towards his son at worst. Something about the personal exposes about him made Kira's stomach turn a bit. None of the people that questioned him appeared to like him at all.

"What if something bad happened after he left with his uncle?" Kira said, scratching at the back of his head. "I mean, it just seems awfully strange for him to disappear like this."

Hisagi looked at Kira for a long moment. "But what in the world could have possibly happened? You said he said something about going to a party? Maybe they went, and he got drunk or something. I mean, the drinking age is different here, it isn't like it would look good for a scholarship student to come to school hung over…"

Kira nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, told him he was 'popular'. I have no idea what that means. But can you see stuffy Ishida going to a party with music and drinking? I don't think so. And he certainly didn't look like it was going to be a party he was going to enjoy. I mean, the way he was acting yesterday, and then he's gone today?"

"Ah hem, boys?" Dr. Urahara said from right behind them. They looked up at their professor and sighed.

"Sorry, professor, we were just worried about Ichigo not being here," Kira said sheepishly.

Urahara nodded. "Oh, yes, I got an email from his uncle saying he'd come down with the flu this morning. He said that was why he was acting a bit off yesterday. Probably be out most of the week, but not to worry, the project won't be affected by his absence."

Kira and Hisagi looked at each other and Urahara frowned at that. "Is there something I should know?"

"Ah, well, it's just…" Kira started, running his hands through his blonde hair nervously.

"Prof, he's got a crush on Ichigo, like totally in love with the boy, and like he's totally been fawning over him since we got in the group with him. Kira's too damn chicken to ask him out so I've been trying to wingman for him but neither one of these two idiots can seem to come to the obvious conclusion they like each other. Anyway, when he got in yesterday he was freaking us both out a bit. He was just acting weird, not talking, and he had his jacket buttoned all the way up his neck and kept his arms crossed the whole class. So Kira went off after him when he took off out of here so quickly at the end of class, and followed him and saw something a little disturbing…" Hisagi said with a glare at Kira. He knew that the brat wouldn't say anything himself.

Kira grimaced and covered his head with his hands, blushing bright red as soon as Hisagi started talking. "Kira, this could be serious, what did you see?" the professor said gently, putting a hand against Kira's shoulders.

Kira lifted his head. "It's just, he was trying to run, and I didn't know then what it was, but I found out he's got serious problems with his left knee, and I guess he was supposed to be there at four exactly, so he was a few minutes later. But his uncle jumped his case about it, saying he'd have to find his own way to his house if he was late again. Then he just kind of yanked him off the curb and told him they had a party to go to and I swear, Dr. Urahara, he was scared. And Dr. Ishida told him that he was popular and just shoved him into the car."

Urahara blinked, his expression deadpanning suddenly. "You're sure he said party? Not meeting, or anything else? He said he had a party to go to?"

"Yeah, something like we've got a little party to go to or something like that," Kira said, nodding.

Neither boy had seen the blonde professor look so serious since they'd started taking his classes. He was always slightly eccentric and crazy in class. Now, his whole demeanor had changed and he looked at them seriously. "Both of you stay after class," was all he said, and went to the front of the room and sat down, pulling his cell phone out and texting rapidly for the entire rest of the class.

Hisagi and Kira glanced at each other and wondered what exactly was going on. After another half an hour, they waited as everyone in the class left. Urahara motioned for them to follow him and led them through the halls and across campus to the Wellness Center. Urahara walked right into the counseling department and motioned them to both follow as they headed back to the furthest room. When they entered, there were three people already sitting at a conference table.

"We have another one?" asked the man at the end with white hair pulled back in a low ponytail. He wore a white jacket over a black shirt and trousers and had a nametag but Hisagi and Kira couldn't read it yet.

"Boys, sit down," Urahara said with a nod to them. He looked around. "This is Shuuhei Hisagi and Izuru Kira, they both are in my junior Chemistry class. Boys, the man at the end is the head counselor here in the school, Jushiro Ukitake. The lady to his right," he said, indicating a woman with incredibly long black hair in a long braid down her back and a soft face. "This is our head of the Wellness Center, Dr. Retsu Unohana. And this gentleman," he said, pointing to a man sitting to the left of Ukitake who was laying back in the chair lazily spinning a pin over his fingers with long brown hair pulled back and a pink kimono over his black suit. "This is Shunsui Kyōraku. He doesn't work for the school; he's actually Captain of the Vice squad on the city police. I know that you may notice something about this team," he said, glancing at the boys. "All are Japanese in origin or nationality. The reason behind it will become clear shortly, but the short answer is most the victims have been Japanese nationals as near as we can tell. I also must insist that anything you hear in this room go no further. Everyone here will deny being here. You will also sign an agreement to that effect when you leave. I'm bringing you into this because I believe you two may just have motivation enough to help us put a stop to what we think is happening and maybe help your friend."

Kira and Hisagi looked at each other and nodded, not really knowing what else to say. Urahara sat down with a sigh. "About four years ago, a Japanese exchange student came to me. A young girl named Momo Hinamori, a freshman, how was quite petite and honestly looked closer to fourteen than nineteen. Like you boys, she was a member of the Japanese Student Association. She'd gotten into a bit of trouble. A weekend of drinking had led to her putting off a term paper that without a passing grade on, she would fail and end up being sent back home to Japan. She decided to find a paper online and submit it. It was caught by the teacher, and expulsion and failure was a certainty. Now, I know both you boys were raised in the US, and you weren't raised with some of the expectations that students in Japan are raised with. She was so afraid of her parents' reaction she was willing to do anything to make it go away."

Urahara sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "But that wasn't why she came to me. I was her advisor, she was a chemistry major, and she didn't know who else to go to about it. She was pregnant. I asked her who the father was and she shook her head, refusing to tell me who it was. I thought perhaps it might be a professor, because it wasn't the first time something of that nature had happened. Eventually I found out she didn't know. I asked more questions of her and found out that she didn't date, barely left her dorm, as a matter of fact, and studied constantly. And I'd never heard of the plagiarism incident, which was incredibly unusual, as I was at the time on the disciplinary board that would have expelled her as well as her advisor. I told her so and she said that she was pregnant because she'd done something to make sure that no one found out about it. She wouldn't tell me more, and the next semester she'd gone back to Japan to have the baby. That was the first that I knew about something strange happening."

Ukitake sat down and sighed. "I got the second. Kisuke had come to me about the first, but she had refused to come speak with me or anyone else about it. I had another exchange student, a young man named Kensei Muguruma, came to me suffering from obvious post-traumatic stress disorder. He was jumpy and having trouble in football, which was what he had a scholarship on. He was flipping out and getting into fights daily. So the coach sent him to me. It didn't take long to figure out what had happened. He had the symptoms of having been raped. He was a big guy, and I could understand immediately why he was covering this fact, but eventually it came up and I asked him. He denied it, saying he'd agreed to everything and then looked at me realizing what he'd said. It took a while, but he eventually admitted to me that he'd been caught doing drugs in the bathroom and sent to disciplinary. Again, like Urahara, this surprised me, because I was on that committee. He said he'd been given a choice, spend the night at a party or be expelled. He chose the former, and refused to go into details about what exactly that meant. He eventually was expelled and sent home after nearly beating another player to death one day at football practice."

Kira and Hisagi were at a loss because if they were suggesting what it sounded like they were suggesting…

"I was the next to become involved," the doctor said with a smile. "I had a student come in with a case of chlamydia. It isn't unusual for us to have students with STDs come into the clinic, however, this student reacted very badly when the male nurse tried to do an exam. He called me in and the boy immediately started crying. I called Ukitake in and between the two of us we found out he, like the other two, had been invited to a 'party' in lieu of expulsion for a serious infraction. In his case, he'd been accused of raping a girl. He swore that he didn't do it, and there was some evidence to support that claim since the girl refused an exam. He said he'd taken the offer and he had never been so wrong in his life. Eventually it came out that he'd actually been to three of these 'parties' and that they involved being prostituted out for several upstanding citizens to have sex with. He claimed that the person that made the offer he couldn't name because he'd find out and that the people who had been there meant that no one would believe him. He indicated that there had been members of the police force there. That was all we got out of that student. He's still in school here, however," she said with a nod to Shunsui.

"Now, boys, we've come to my part in this. I'm actually, well," he said grinning at Ukitake, "Dr. Ukitake is actually my partner; we've been together since childhood, actually. When he told me what was happening, I started putting feelers into the vice squad, and to my surprise I was meant with instructions to keep my nose out of that, because that was someone else's case, and was not any of Vice's business by one of the Lieutenant Colonels. I found out there was no such case. I went to a couple other higher ups and quickly found out that there were people I could talk to and those I couldn't. I got in touch with one of the only people that even seemed interested in what I had to say, Captain Ken Zaraki of Homicide. He said he'd been invited to a party not long ago and had flat turned it down when he was told that there would be provided 'entertainment' for a fee of 2500 dollars. The person that invited him was one of my vice squad."

"And that's where we need help," Urahara said. "We think its Dr. Ishida. He's been the head of the disciplinary board for five years now. Our guess is that he got the idea after the board shut down an in school prostitution ring. The kid we busted had almost two hundred thousand and had blackmailed fellow students into taking part, then used the photos and videos to ensure silence afterward. We have considered approaching his son, but we're unsure of his connection. So far, no concrete connections can be made and those involved won't come forward either out of fear if they're victims or because they're protecting themselves."

Hisagi and Kira both nodded, the Kira spoke up. "What do you want us to do? If you think he's forcing Ichigo to do this stuff, I want to help."

Urahara smiled. Both these boys had showed themselves to be stand up boys over the last three years. He also knew that Hisagi was interested in forensics. "It's about appearances. We need into these parties in order to prove they even exist, but they're very selective about who they invite. Shunsui and Jushiro down there are out because they're known to be nosing about the situation; however, I've never been connected with it. We want to try and get into there, but I need to fit the profile of those that he invites."

Kira thought for a second and then gasped. "You want us to play our parts. One of us to make you look like the type that gets off on sleeping with boys our age, and the other of us to get into serious trouble and get blackmailed into the parties."

Urahara nodded. "You are so smart, Kira. Really," he said fondly.

Hisagi nodded. "Well, I can make you look like pervert. Don't ask shy boy here, he can't do the public displays like I can."

Kira glanced at him. "But…but you're straight, Hisagi, how are you…"

Hisagi arched brow. "Dude, I've known you since were ten. I think I can play a coy closeted gay boy."

"Then it's settled. Kira, you need to do something severe for me to catch you at. We'll document that you're working with Shunsui over there so that after everything is said and done you aren't in any real trouble. Drugs?" he asked, looking over at Shunsui.

"Easy to do. I'll bring by something out of the evidence locker after I confirm with Captain Zaraki," he answered with a nod. "But he was the one that suggested recruiting students for this. I'm still not in favor of putting you two in danger."

Kira shook his head. "I want to help him. I really do. And I'll take the chance."

_Friday, September 12, 2014 _

_Four Days ago_

The next few weeks passed without incident. He wasn't sure when his Uncle would turn on him again. He's learned very quickly not to talk around him after the next morning when he'd backhanded him for speaking to him. It had surprised him, but his uncle had quickly informed him that he was nothing more than property to him, and it was in his best interest to keep his mouth shut unless he was instructed to open it. Before, he'd received reprimands, but this was different. It was as though he were literally nothing more than a thing to his uncle, and perhaps he'd always felt that way. Only now, he could show the hatred with full force.

Then he was switched into an advanced chemistry class. He really liked his teacher and he was happy with the group for the project he'd been given. He almost thought that it was over and he could move on with his life. He thought he was coping quite well. Granted, he'd already run through the month's supply of anxiety medication he'd gotten and had started taking his pain medication daily until he could pick up another prescription for the other, but he thought considering what had happened, he was doing pretty well.

The hardest part about everything was the fact that he was always with his uncle, either in the car or in the house, and he was scared that his uncle would do something to him. He never did though, he only would hit him if he spoke at the wrong time, but other than that he barely noticed his presence. He may as well have been a piece of furniture. He thought that maybe things would change and he'd just have to learn to cope with the crushing weight of the anxiety that he was feeling more and more often.

Until his Uncle picked him up Friday. As usual, he didn't speak as he got into the car, and Ichigo was feeling quite good for a change. He was enjoying getting to know his group members, Hisagi and Kira. They were nice and he was beginning to wonder if Kira wasn't gay because he caught him staring at him now and then. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, he swore he was flirting a little today when he asked him about his hair color. It had been innocent enough, to ask him if it was a natural color or if he dyed it. Ichigo had pointed to his eyebrows, which were the same color as his hair and said, nope it had always been that color.

They pulled into the house and Ryuken spoke to him. "Dress and get back out here," he said.

Ichigo felt a chill shoot down his spine. "Wh-what should I wear?" he asked nervously.

"There's a clothing bag on your bed. Put it on and get out here in fifteen minutes or there will be punishment that you will not enjoy," he said seriously without even looking at him.

Ichigo blinked and then got out of the car and hurried to the house and found the bag, as he said, across his bed. He reached out and unzipped it to find an unusual set of clothes. He knew he had to hurry, because he had no doubt that his uncle would punish him in a terrible way if he didn't do what he was told. It wouldn't be here, at the house, it would be at the party. He quickly dressed, grabbing the pair of slip on shoes sitting by the bed and put on the long coat over the outfit. He headed back out and slid into the seat.

"I expect you to be quicker next time," Ryuken said as he buckled his belt. "You took too long, but I'll refrain from punishing you too much yet. Mr. Aizen is looking forward to seeing you again," he said pulling out of the driveway.

Ichigo was visibly shaking when they got to the house in the country. There were more cars this time. He tried to hold back the near sob that escaped him as they pulled in. Ryuken looked over and smirked. Good, he thought to himself. "I'll have to tie you up again, won't I?" he asked.

Ichigo turned to him with wide eyes and swallowed hard. "That's what I thought. Get out. And remember, you are not new to this. Eyes on the ground, and do not speak unless specifically told to do so."

Ryuken grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into the foyer. "Give me the coat," he said, reaching out. Ichigo took it off and stood with a blush spreading over his face. The clothes were different. He was wearing a pair of shorts made out of some sort of stretchy material and a long button down shirt that was actually longer than the shorts on him. There was a collar and a set of wrist cuffs, both set with rings on them. He ducked his head immediately because someone was coming.

"Oh, Ryuken, you're here," an unfamiliar voice belonging to a man wearing pinstripe suit pants. "Is this our boy for the evening? He's so lovely! Where were you hiding this gem?"

"Japan, actually. He's my nephew. Came here for school, but with this look, there was no denying he was made to be a whore," he said, shoving him into the living room again.

"Oh there's my boy," came Aizen's voice. Ichigo shivered at it. "Come here, sit with me," he instructed and Ichigo made the mistake of hesitating too long. He nearly fell over as Ryuken cuffed him on the back of the head.

"Move," he said.

Ichigo moved toward the couch and was yanked harshly into the larger man's lap. He winced because he felt him already through his pants. He swallowed nervously, playing with the leather at the edge of the cuffs. For Karin and Yuzu, he kept repeating in his mind. He wouldn't take the chance that Ryuken could make something happen to his dad. He couldn't even begin to take the chance that his sisters could be forced into doing this sort of thing. He winced as he felt Aizen's hand sliding over his thighs.

"See, Ryuken, look at this turn out. When you have a steady boy, word spreads, I told you that before," Zommari's voice came.

Ichigo kept his eyes on the ground and a glass was handed to him, just like the glass from the last time. He immediately downed the entire thing in the hopes that he'd pass out from it. Ryuken said it was alcohol and opium. At least it was something. The glass disappeared by someone's hand just as quickly as it had appeared and the world began to shift around him despite his own stillness.

Ryuken snorted. "Yes, well, this was the first time I could get one for more than a few nights. And lately I haven't had any little assholes that have fucked up enough to end up before a disciplinary board."

Aizen leaned over Ichigo's shoulder and smelled the spot behind his ear with a grin. "Such a sweet little slut you make. I wish I knew what made you such a little bitch…" Ichigo fought away tears that tried to rise at such things. He was not either of those things. He wasn't. He wasn't. Wasn't he?

Ryuken looked around. "Now, you've all paid the admission fee. As I explained in the communication, admission fee is five hundred, but does not include anything except the touching and groping. If that's all you are interested in, you are not required to pay any further. However, if you want public play, you can opt for a blow job for another five hundred, or a fuck for fifteen hundred. Any public display cannot exceed fifteen minutes. If you don't get off, not my problem. You can pay again or leave high and dry. If you want him up on the cross for some lashing, you'll have to pay five hundred. If you want private room for whatever you like, it's 2500 for an hour. Anything else is negotiable."

Ichigo closed his eyes and wanted to will it all way, to be talked about like this, it was so humiliating. Aizen's hands had gotten even more insistent, sliding into his shorts and fondling him. He felt like he was nothing, just a body. He didn't think he could be degraded any further. He swallowed against the bile rising in his throat and tried to concentrate on school. Chemistry was good, and his group partners who liked him for who he was, not for this person that sat here. What would Kira think if he saw him now? That thought alone made his heart leap. No, Kira or anyone else couldn't know about this. Not his sisters, not anyone. Aizen bit down on his ear and he jumped.

"On the cross," Aizen said over his shoulder to Ryuken. "I want to lash him before I fuck him. You said he'd never been up on the cross before. Time to try it out."

The rest of the night was a blur. First he was stripped of the too big shirt and tied to a cross made of wood. Aizen took a whip of some sort to his back until he couldn't stand it anymore. After he was done there was a round of applause and he was almost losing his consciousness. He was nearly hyperventilating. Then Aizen was behind his back and pulling the tight shorts down. Now he really did start to panic but Ryuken shoved the gag into his mouth again. Ichigo hadn't even seem him come up. He was still attached to the cross on the back wall. Aizen took him like that, again, rough and harsh until he was coughing against the gag.

Someone took him down and then he had his mouth forced down on someone, Zommari he thought because he was huge, or maybe it was someone new, he had no idea. He gagged and coughed and it didn't matter because his head was just forced down harder. He felt someone behind him and he whimpered as they began to set a ruthless rhythm that forced him into the person in his mouth harder. There were several others and then he was drug into the bedroom, Ryuken tying his hands again but he at least left his legs free this time. He had no idea how long it lasted. At some point he passed out, he knew. Then he was woken up by someone patting his cheek.

His eyes fluttered and he was staring up into a huge man's face. He had an eye patch and a head of spiked black hair. There was another man with him, but this one had blue hair. He whined behind the gag because it wasn't the first time he'd had two come into the room that night. He was pretty sure if he wasn't higher than a kite at the moment he would have been in excruciating pain from the amount of blood that painted his thighs by now.

The blue haired one came around and unbuckled the gag and Ichigo gasped loudly. "Please, just no more…" he whimpered, tears already falling. He knew better than to talk but he couldn't take any more. The effect of the drugs was wearing off and he was starting to feel something other than numb.

"Hey, hey," the bigger of the two said, pulling his face around to look at him. Ichigo bit his lip, which made him flinch because it was already split once. "Look, we're not here to do anything. I need to ask you something. That's all."

Ichigo was close to hyperventilating and he looked between the two. Neither one seemed to be getting undressed. The black haired one sat on his right and the other on his left and was just watching him. "O-okay…" he said finally.

"Are you being forced to do this?" he said, his one eye staring at Ichigo's brown ones.

"I-I…" he stammered and looked between him. "W-why do you c-care?"

"It matters a lot," the other one said and he looked over at him.

"I…If I…but he'll…" he said, looking between them. "M-my sisters…I can't…"

The two looked at each other over him. "Your sisters?" the dark haired one said, his one eye narrowing.

"He-he said he'd get them h-here…make them do this…" he said, panting. "I…I don't want that…he's our uncle…if my dad…if he-he dies…th-they'd be here…"

"How often does he do these parties?" the dark haired one said quietly.

Ichigo swallowed. "The…the first was a m-month ago."

"Then we've got a month," the blue haired one said. He looked down at Ichigo and smiled. "We are going to help you, okay, I promise. Before the next time this happens, we'll help you. And we are going to get every bastard that comes to these things and nail them to the fucking wall."

_Ryuken Ishida's Residence_

_Saturday, September 14, 2014 _

_Three Days Ago: 6:20 am_

Gretchen was surprised when she woke the next morning to see that Ryuken's car was gone. She was an early riser, so it was just after six am. She took her morning tea and went to sit on the porch but froze with her hand on the door when she saw Ryuken's car pulling into his drive. She sat down her tea and moved to the window instead. She watched as Ryuken got out then practically dragged the boy. He was wearing a long coat but when Ryuken pulled him out of the car it swung open to reveal he was in something that looked like underwear and nothing else, and his upper body was a mass of crisscrossing red marks. He was stumbling and his face was red. She watched as he got him into the house, and her hand was on her phone again.

"Hello," came Uryuu's sleepy voice. She must have woken him.

"Son, I don't know what's happening, but your father and cousin just came home," she said, watching the house closely.

"What?" Uryuu asked. "They were gone all night?"

"I think so. The car was gone all day yesterday, and pulled in for a few minutes around five, and was gone all night. And your cousin, I don't know how to describe it, he looked like he'd been beaten. He had welts on his chest, and he was in a coat and not much else," she said, not really sure how to describe what she'd seen.

"I'll be there in an hour. Thank you," he said and hung up.

Uryuu didn't know what to think, but he was going to try and figure something out. He was in front of the house before long and knocking on the door. His father answered the door in his dressing gown, proving beyond a doubt that he'd been in bed.

"What do you want, Uryuu?" he asked.

"Ryuken, good to see you as always. I came to see if Ichigo wanted to come to the Japanese Student Association meeting with me today," he said as nonchalantly as he could.

"He's been transferred to an upper level chemistry class. He's catching up on what he missed the first few weeks in it. I'm afraid he'll be busy today," he said with a flat look.

Uryuu frowned. "I'd like to talk to him about it."

"He's asleep, let him be, he was up late studying," Ryuken said and shut the door.

Uryuu frowned and headed back to his car, pausing to send Ichigo's phone a text message. _Everything going okay?_

Not a minute later. _I told you to let him be, Uryuu._

Uryuu narrowed his eyes at the screen. Ryuken had his phone. Things were definitely not looking like they were okay at all. He glanced up at the house and saw that Ichigo's window was open and he could see him sitting at the desk in front of it. Even from the car, it was hard to miss the slumped position. Uryuu started the car and growled under his breath. It was time for him to go talk to someone about this. But who could he trust? His father was so well liked, and headed the disciplinary committee. Who would even listen to him?

_St. Louis Police Department, Internal Affairs Office_

_5:40 pm_

"You've confirmed?" the buxom blonde woman leaning back against the desk asked quietly.

In front of her were Captain Ken Zaraki and his Lieutenant Grimm Jaeger of the Homicide Unit. A couple of her unit were still working on paperwork behind them.

"Yes, ma'am," Grimm said with a curt nod. "We didn't get to see anyone else, by the point we were allowed into the area, the other 'guests' were either gone or somewhere else."

She nodded and looked behind her. "Estrella!" she called.

A woman with short dark hair and deeply tanned skin came up from the back of the room. Grimm smiled at her as she came up. "I want you with them. I need IA eyes on this to make sure this sticks. Captain Kyōraku is going to be heading the surveillance van but I want to keep this operation limited to a small number of people. We know how far this goes, even up to one of the commissioners."

Estrella nodded. "Am I going in undercover?"

"You got it, you haven't been here but a few weeks now, so I doubt many of the regular officers have seen you. We'll use that to our advantage. You'll be put in the sex crimes unit tomorrow morning, then your job is to convince Lieutenant Cifer that you can be trusted, especially about this. My advice is to work the angle that sex crimes are one thing, but prostitutes are something else and deserve what they get for doing what they do. Its his line of thinking from what I've heard," Captain Harribel said with a nod. "Do your usual, get information right under their noses."

Estrella fingered the octopus pendant at her throat with a nod. There was a very good reason she was good at her job. "So I get to work with my Grimmy, then?"

Grimm smiled. "And you might get to put away some of your favorite people. Have you seen the file?"

Estrella shook her head and her captain handed it to her and nodded, leaving to go check on another case. "Nnoitra? No shit. I will happily nail his ass to the wall. And Barragan?" She looked up with a smile. "I met him once, he's a real prick. And Cifer…damn, how in the world did they get the head of the Sex Crimes Unit into this shit?"

Zaraki shrugs. "The little prick doesn't think it's a crime to fuck a prostitute."

"This says they're blackmailed…" she said, brow creasing. "So they aren't even really wanting to do it. Does Cifer know that?" She didn't know Cifer well, had met him a couple times, but she tended to be forgettable, of course it was on purpose. When she'd met him, though, she was a regular patrol officer. At least, that's what she appeared to be.

Grimm shook his head. "No idea. All I know is that the kid they had last night when we were there was scared, had be treated pretty rough, and said he was afraid that his uncle would get to his sisters if he didn't keep quiet about it."

Estrella looked up. "Uncle?"

Grimm nodded seriously. "Yeah, the prick that's running this is the kid that was there last night's uncle. We're going to try and get him out of harm's way in the next couple days. We're waiting for a warrant to get into his uncle's house based on what we saw last night. I just hope we're in time."

_Enroute: Aizen's Summer House_

_Monday, September 15, 2014_

_Yesterday: 4:30 pm_

Ichigo still hurt from the weekend. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure something wasn't wrong considering how much blood he'd lost. He couldn't imagine having to go back again so soon. Would there be a lot of them like Saturday? That would be terrible, he couldn't handle that. His back still stung horribly. The two men who had come last had promised to help him before the next one. They'd promised. But how could they help him if Ryuken scheduled one out of the blue like this?

"You're just going to spend some quality time with Mr. Aizen," Ryuken said as they went in a different direction. They weren't going to the same place. "It seems he enjoys your company quite a bit. He's purchased your time for the rest of the week."

Ichigo looked over at him. "But school," he said.

Ryuken glared at him then lashed out with is right hand, slapping him hard. "Fuck your school. Aizen paid good money to have you as his personal fucktoy for this week, and then on Saturday, he's throwing a lovely party for everyone on our list. And everyone is dying to meet you, even the ones that haven't been yet. And Aizen is going to spend this week teaching you your place. You do not own yourself anymore, do you understand me? You belong to me and whoever I whore you out to."

Ichigo whimpered despite himself. There were more? There had been at least nine men at the last party. How many could there possibly be? "Yes, everyone who is on our list will be there, and they all want some personal attention from the latest Ishida whore," Ryuken said smugly as he pulled into a large house. He turned and stared at him. "And that is what you are, do you understand? You are my whore to do with whatever I want."

Ichigo didn't say anything, just stared at him blankly. Ryuken got out and led him into the house where Aizen was waiting in the foyer. The house was twice as big as Ryuken's house, and Ichigo saw that he had maids and servants walking here and there. They all avoided looking in his direction.

"Hello, my pretty boy," he said. "You're going to do everything I say, do you understand? And if you're a bad little boy, you'll be punished. And I'm sure you'll be a bad little boy quite often, my sweet slut."

Ichigo nodded and felt Ryuken buckle the collar onto his neck and the wrist cuffs. Aizen smiled in a lazy, satisfied way. A tremble couldn't be hidden as he felt his heart speed up in his chest.

"Strip. You won't need clothes while you're here," Aizen said with a smile. "My slut slaves wear nothing in my house. You have to earn your clothes back, either on your back or on your knees, do you understand?"

He hesitated too long because he felt Ryuken whack the back of his head and knock him to his knees. "You heard the man, strip."

Ichigo got back to his feet and unbuttoned his shirt with shaky fingers, and finally stood with nothing but the cuffs and the collar. Aizen smiled and glanced at Ryuken. "Good, take his clothes. He won't need them again until after the party Saturday night. See you then," Aizen said as Ryuken picked up his clothes and left.

Aizen smiled, lifting his chin up. "Now, as for what you're expected to do, you will sit at my feet at all times, you won't speak unless you are specifically told to speak, and you will keep your eyes on the floor at all times. If you break those rules, you will be whipped until you bleed. Granted, that will happen anyway, but I will be much harsher if I'm punishing you. And if you scream, even when I'm lashing you, I will beat you further until you can't scream. Two rules, slut. Complete obedience to me and my guests, and complete silence. Now, on your knees," he said, pushing him down to his knees. Ichigo winced as the usual pain shot through him.

"Now, I'm going to put this on you," he said, slipping something clear and plastic looking over his cock, and snapping something around his testicles. He winced and shifted on his knees a bit as he secured a strap around him and then pushed him forward until he fell forward on his hands. He gasped as Aizen's fingers touched his entrance. He hadn't fully recovered from the last party yet. "And now I'll put this in you," he said, and began to slide something hard into him. He gasped at the painful intrusion. His eyes watered. "There, now, you'll be ready whenever I am," he said, patting the end of the plug and securing the straps to it to ensure it stayed in place.

Ichigo wasn't sure what was worse, being naked or having these weird things on him. He felt something strike his ass and he winced. "Up," he heard and he pushed up to his knees again. Aizen came forward and clamped something onto each of his nipples and he winced at the shock of pain. There was a fine chain that connected the two clamps. He saw that what he'd struck him with was a white horse crop.

"There, now, come, its dinner time," he said and snapped something into the front ring of the collar. "Come," he said, yanking him to his feet with what he could see was a leash now. Ichigo colored even more and then the doors opened to show a dining room with a large table. There were at least ten men and women sitting around it. "Welcome, guests, I'll introduce my pet for the night," he said, yanking hard on the leash as Ichigo tried to keep from passing out. "He's new, so please forgive him for his mistakes. I assure you I'll punish him thoroughly for it later."

Ichigo whimpered as he was forced to kneel beside Aizen's chair, and watched in amazement as the people around their table seemed to go about their business and completely ignored his entire presence. He kept his eyes down, staring at the cuffs and trying to avoid thinking that he had to do this, be this, until Saturday was over. He swallowed down the rising bile. Karin and Yuzu, he told himself. It was Karin and Yuzu he was doing this for. He'd never let either of them be so used and humiliated. Never. No, he'd act the part that Aizen wanted. He could do that without becoming what Aizen wanted. He could. At least, he desperately hoped he could.

He didn't notice the glance one of the women sent his way. She bit her lip because she knew, even if the other people at the dinner didn't know, she knew that the boy wasn't there because he wanted to be. She knew by the look on his face. It was one thing to do this sort of thing, to play with a pet and show him off. It was another to force someone into it. She looked over to see him staring around now and then with a lost look. Her heart ached because that was not the look of someone who desired to be a slave.


	4. The Master Plan

**Quiet Protector**

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_A/N: Changes may come after my lovely kinkylittlewolf gives it a read! _

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**Chapter Four**

_The Master Plan_

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_Police Department: Captain Zaraki's Office _

_Wednesday, September 18, 2014 _

_8:30 am_

"Captain," Shunsui said as he entered the room.

Captain Ken Zaraki and his lieutenant Grimm Jaeger sat together at the captain's desk as he came in. "Kyōraku," the captain said. "We've got a confirmation, and I hear you have someone to use in our plan."

"Yes, sir. We've recruited two students from the campus. One is to be caught with drugs in the bathroom by campus police and be sent in front of disciplinary and the other is to play up Dr. Urahara's part to get him in. You were successful in infiltrating?" he said, taking the open seat.

The captain nodded. "We were, it took us a few days to get out of the circle enough to schedule this meeting. Your boy was there, the one you reported on yesterday. Kid with orange hair, Ishida's nephew," he said, pointing to the report Shunsui had dropped off the evening before. "Met with Tier. We've got an IA plant in Sex Crimes working Cifer. She's friends with Grimm so should be no problem getting her in so we've got IA eyes there."

Since there were so many people involved, they were having to be exceedingly careful who they said and did things around. This meant that having the three of them in a room had to have a good reason. It was the same reason the meetings with IA had to take place at odd hours. Shunsui nodded, taking the file from Grimm. He winced when he opened it. The boy wasn't looking too well, he guessed, but he didn't look terribly injured. There were some obvious bruises on his arms and body, but nothing that went further than superficial.

"Man, this guy needs to go down. You couldn't bust from within this weekend?" Shunsui said with a deep sigh.

"We'd miss half of them. According to Ishida, there's a huge party taking place Saturday night at eight at a location to be disclosed fifteen minutes before it begins," Zaraki said sighing. "We tried to get the kid out, but he's gone. We have no idea where they've moved him to this time. We sent in a team to Ishida's place as soon as the warrant cleared and another to the normal meeting place. They've stashed the kid somewhere else because they went in quiet and found him gone, nothing missing, but no one home."

Shunsui cursed under his breath. The sting operation would have to go onward as planned. They'd been willing to sacrifice the chance to bust the whole ring if they could get the kid out of danger, and even if they got him out, with the two students in play they might have still swung the sting operation assuming Ishida didn't run. "Alright, well, the Kira kid is supposed to get caught this morning. Later this afternoon, as Ishida's leaving, we've set the scene for him to catch the Hisagi kid and him in a compromising position."

Grimm turned to him. "How confident are you in these two kids?"

Shunsui smiled. "Well, Kira's head over heels for the Kurosaki kid, and Hisagi's Kira's best friend. I'm confident they'll do whatever they have to do."

_UMSL Campus: Ryuken Ishida's Office _

_11:30 am _

Kira had never done anything close to as daring as this before but he thought he'd played the kid caught with dope by campus security well enough. Now he was fingering his phone in his pocket to keep the screen open so he could activate the voice recorder when the door opened. A few seconds later it did just that and Kira was escorted in by the campus security officer and sat down in front of the desk. It was all very intimidating, especially if someone was really in trouble. He brushed the button to activate the recorder and put his best I'm so sorry face.

"Izuru Kira," Ryuken said, turning around in his massive office chair to face him. "Son of a prestigious surgeon it says here, and you are wanting to become one yourself. Yet you were caught with two ounces of cocaine in the bathroom a few hours ago. This doesn't look good. Having that much of a drug on you…and with your high standing…"

Kira looked positively frantic. "Please sir, I can't let my father find out, he'll kill me, I can't…I just needed something to keep myself awake, I've been drowning in work, and I just needed something to pep me up…and I…"

Ryuken put a finger to his lips. "So you realize how serious this is. This is an expulsion grade offense, Mr. Kira."

"I know sir, I know, and I'll do anything if…if we can forget it…I just…" he said, his eyes starting to well with tears. He was forcing himself to picture his sweet Ichigo being forced to do things by this horrible man and it was quickly brining tears of anger to his eyes. He quelled the sudden surge that thinking of it gave him. He tried to stop it. He wasn't "his" anyway, so why did he feel like he was?

"Anything?" Ishida asked. Inside, Kira cheered. Yes anything you fucking bastard, he thought to himself.

"Oh, sir, anything, community service, extra work, it doesn't matter…" he said nodding enthusiastically.

Ryuken smiled and nodded. "Fine. You'll have…community service…of a sort. And this will disappear. Meet me here Saturday afternoon at four."

"Oh yes, sir, what will I be doing? What should I wear?" he asked with an innocent wide eyed look on his face.

"Oh, any old thing," Ryuken said with a smile. "You are excused."

Kira nodded. "Thank you sir, you won't regret this…" he said and left the room, pausing to turn off the voice recorder. "Got you, fucker," he muttered and walked with determination toward the Millennium Center where Hisagi was waiting. He forwarded the recording to Urahara and Shunsui.

_UMSL Campus: Outside Business Building_

_ 3:30 pm _

"He's coming," Urahara whispered as he ducked back around the corner of the building where Hisagi stood leaning back with hands in his pockets.

"Make it good, doc. Feel me up, you gotta sell this shit," Hisagi said, ruffling his hair and biting down on his lips to make them red and puffy.

"You're sure about this?" Urahara asked, wide eyed. He'd never touched a student, let alone in such an intimate fashion. Hisagi rolled his eyes and unbuttoned his jeans and slid down the zipper.

"Fuck, man, he's got to believe you're a fucking pervert, come on, here, if he comes around to see what's going on, you gotta look the part," he said grabbing Urahara's hand and shoving it down the front of his pants. "Ain't no different from a chick having her hand on dick, and I've had plenty of those, now, come on, or we're gonna blow it."

Ryuken stepped out and heard the sudden exclamation from Hisagi around the corner of the building.

"Professor!" he gasped. "Stop, you can't do that here…"

Ryuken stopped and heard murmuring nearby but he couldn't pick out the words. Then he watched as a dark haired student came rushing passed him, face flushed and buttoning his jeans. He smiled wondering which of his fellow professors was attempting to get it on with a student again. Hmm, with the big party coming up this weekend, another 500 for entrance would be nice to add to his takings. To his surprise a slightly disheveled looking Urahara came out, putting his obnoxious bucket hat back on his head and glancing left and right to see if anyone was around. Ryuken smiled at him and watched the color drain from his face. Oh he knew he'd been caught.

"Kisuke," Ryuken said, strolling over to him casually.

"Um, Ryuken," he said. "I can explain." He looked like that cat that had been caught with the canary.

"Tsk, no need, Kisuke. You're not the first nor the last professor to have little crush on one of his students…" he said with a sly smile. "Now, tell me, is your little pussy boy cock blocking you?"

Kisuke's eyes widened a bit. "Um, it was…I haven't…uh…"

"Ah, I see. Just started trying to get into his pants, huh? That's tough. Tell you what, how about you come to a party Saturday with me. It costs five hundred to get in, and then you can grope the party boys all you want. Then, if you want to fuck them, just a little more cash. All in good fun and they love the attention, unlike boys like that. Well trained rent boys, Kisuke, well trained rent boys. Best way to go, don't have to fear getting reported…" Ryuken said with a smile. "Meet me here Saturday at five. I've got one of the party boys meeting me a little earlier and then I'll be here for you. Now keep it hush hush now, or we'll both be in trouble."

Urahara watched him walk away and hid the smile that was threatening to brim. He headed back to his office and texted Shunsui.

_I'm in._

_UMSL Campus: Meadows Apartments _

_4:00 pm_

Renji Abarai came and jumped over the back of the couch to flop down by his best friend and roommate, Uryuu. "Man, what's up? You look like someone kicked your best puppy the last few days. Your dad again?"

From the next room they heard a partial scream. Renji rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the plastic cups off the coffee table and lobbed it hard at the opposite wall. "Keep it down in there, dammit, normal people fuck at night, you know!"

Uryuu smiled despite his sour mood. Renji punched him in the arm. "There you are. Somewhere in there you're alive. So what's going on this time?"

A loud thump was heard and a groan of obvious pain in the next room. "Goddammit, do you have to keep your desk right there?" came the shouted admonishment from the room. A moment later the door opened and shut and a disheveled Yumichika came out in a robe and flopped in the opposite chair with a bright purple bruise forming on his left cheek.

"Yumi, baby, I'm sorry," came Ikkaku's voice as he stumbled out, managing to get his jeans buckled before he got all the way in the room.

Renji giggled then started laughing at them. He stopped when the TV remote bounced off his head. "Ow, dammit, I'm sorry, but that's gonna be a pretty bruise, Yumi."

Yumichika's eyes went wide and he jumped off the chair and ran into the bathroom and screeched. Ikkaku slid down into the loveseat his boyfriend had just vacated. This was going to be bad.

"Thanks, fucker," he muttered at Renji. "I wasn't gonna tell him yet…"

"Oh my God, look at this!" Yumichika said, eyes wide and frantic. "I have a fucking bruise on my face. On my beautiful _face_, Ikkaku. I have a fucking photo shoot in two days! You are so not getting near my ass for a month!" he said and turned, hair flipping over his shoulder and the slamming the door to his room that he rarely used. Ikkaku flinched.

"Shit, I ain't gonna get laid forever…he's pissed."

Renji snorted. "Huh, get used to Rosy and the five sisters for a while like the rest of us poor, unattached bastards."

Ikkaku tossed a pillow at Renji and sighed. Uryuu sighed. "I'll make him a new dress this week and you can give it to him. He'll forgive you within the hour. Especially if I make it peacock blue and purple."

Ikkaku grinned. "Oh would you, Uryuu? You know how he loves to wear your clothes at the shoots."

Yumichika was an east Asian studies major and an amateur model for women's clothes that often did shoots for some local magazines. He was also considering becoming transgendered. Currently, he identified still as male, but he was leaning more and more toward changing that thinking. Ikkaku was a business major who had plans on managing Yumichika's career as a model. He honestly didn't care what Yumichika decided to do with his body, he was happy whatever he decided.

From behind them there was a slamming door. "Ikkaku get your ass in here," they heard from Ikkaku's room. Ikkaku looked at Uryuu and Renji and jumped up and smiled.

"Maybe I get angry sex out of him. I love angry sex. It's the best…" he said with an evil grin.

Renji shook his head. "Okay, so back to why you're all down in the mouth?"

Uryuu shook his head and decided to just tell Renji what had been going on. "And now I don't know where he is. His teachers said he was out with the flu and he's not home. I don't know who to trust, though, Renji. I mean, Ryuken could have anyone in his corner." He sighed and flopped back in the couch when he was finished.

Renji sat for a long time and then stood up suddenly startling Uryuu from his thoughts. "The head counselor. Dr. Ukitake, go to him. You can trust him. I know that."

Uryuu looked up at his friend who was staring away from him toward the wall. "Why do you say to go to him?"

Renji shook his head and for the first time since he'd known him, he swore his hand was shaking when he ran it through his bright red hair. "Trust him, okay. I…I gotta go."

Uryuu frowned as he watched him leave and wondered just what exactly that had been all about. He'd never seen Renji act like that. It was completely out of character.

_UMSL Campus: Dr. Ukitake's Office _

_5:00 pm_

"Enter," the psychologist said, straightening his papers.

His last client had left a few moments before, so he knew whoever it was wasn't a client, so most likely one of his students. He shuffled away his SOAP notes and sighed as he put them in his desk file cabinet. He hummed and then looked up with slight surprise at his visitor.

"Uryuu," he commented, smiling despite the increase in his own heart rate. This could be very good, or very bad for the plans they had this week.

"Dr. Ukitake, I know it is after office hours, but I need to talk to someone, and I'm not sure who to trust…" he said, glancing around the room nervously before pushing up his glasses. "My roommate told he to trust you and I trust him, so here I am."

Ukitake looked at him for a long moment. "Roommate?"

Uryuu nodded. "Renji Abarai," he said slowly.

"Oh," Ukitake said with a slight nod of his head. It became clear as to why he would have sent him. It had been three years almost since he'd seen that red-headed freshman falling apart completely in his office. "Please, sit, whatever is said here doesn't leave," he said with a gentle smile. "With the usual exceptions of course."

Uryuu's brows raised. "What are the usual exceptions?"

"Ah, no worries. I'm sure it won't be an issue. The exceptions are harm to self or others," he said with a nod.

"But what if its someone else getting hurt and I know about it?" he asked, brows creasing. "And what if I don't like it and I don't know what to do about it because the person that's doing it can make it disappear if he wants to do so?"

Ukitake couldn't contain a small smile. It seemed their worries that Ryuken's son was involved were unfounded. The boy was genuinely distressed by what was happening. Renji was in a way vouching for him. It was a split second choice, but the boy was going to find out everything this weekend one way or another.

"It's about your father isn't it?" Ukitake said softly. "And your cousin."

Uryuu looked up with a confused look. "What?"

The counselor stood up and pulled his white hair back into a ponytail slowly. "What I'm going to say, you have to understand, this isn't easy. The chances are very good your father will be arrested this weekend on a myriad of charges. I believe that you are uninvolved in what he's been doing and I believe you care about the welfare of your cousin."

He reached out and turned on the white noise machine outside his door. Anyone that came by would know better than to even knock with that on. He returned to his desk.

"What's he done?" Uryuu asked softly.

"First and foremost, abusing his position as head of the disciplinary committee. He's been using his time there to recruit students into doing what he requests in exchange for making their disciplinary issues disappear. He's mostly preyed on the East Asian foreign exchange students, but there have been a few Asian-American students as well. And it appears that he's pulled your cousin into this…business of his," Ukitake said, sliding his white coat off his slender shoulders and taking a moment to cough into a tissue. His COPD was flaring up again. Not a good bit of timing.

"He's running a prostitution ring," Uryuu said slowly, eyes widening as things began to click into place in his head.

Ukitake looked up. "How did you come to that conclusion?" he asked, wondering how in the world he would get that answer so fast.

Uryuu shook his head. "It makes sense. Since that student run ring was busted four years ago, he's been rather unconcerned with financial issues. Before then he'd had a gambling issue. As long as we've been in the states, he's had a problem with poker and craps. It was a big issue and several times we had these guys come to the house and told him if they didn't get their money they were going to kidnap me or kneecap him. Needless to say, he preferred to have them take me than have himself injured. Just after that, the problems stopped. I wondered why. Now I know. He found a new income besides his position here. It is the only logical thing considering that our neighbor has reported that my cousin has been taken out late at night and not looking steady when he returned. I know my father took his phone away, and now he's not at the house."

Another coughing fit ensued and Ukitake sat up and stared. "What? He's not there?" he wheezed, clasping a hand to his chest and using the other to search for an inhaler.

Uryuu shook his head. "I went by earlier after I heard he was absent. No one was home and our neighbor said that she hadn't seen him since Monday."

Just then there was a knock on his door and without thinking, Ukitake called for them to enter, sucking down the albuterol to calm his seizing lungs.

"Babe, you ready?" came Shunsui's voice as he closed the door behind him. He turned and saw Uryuu and Ukitake's face, which was red from an obvious attack but had a look of pure shock and concern that he rarely wore so openly. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Shunsui, no, please, Uryuu came because he's worried about his cousin. He's not involved, I've told him some bits, but not all, but he says Ichigo's not at Ryuken's house. Do you know where he is?"

Shunsui sighed. "No, we sent a team over today, and found him gone. We had been hoping you might have some incite. Kira and Urahara have pulled off their part of the plan though. Saturday night is when the next event is happening. Kira has already confirmed he's being picked up by Ryuken, and Hisagi's acting paid off, and Urahara's been told to bring five hundred for the entrance fee and he'll give him the address Saturday. I'm going to guess they've got the boy at the place they're having their 'party'."

"What exactly is going on?" Uryuu said, looking between the two.

Shunsui smiled sadly. "We've been onto your father's trail for a while but he's slippery. He covers his tracks, he uses multiple safety features when he advertises about his parties, and he's technically got consenting adults participating as prostitutes. Of course, the 'consent' part is debatable since they were all blackmailed in some fashion. We have no idea how many students we're talking about, but we're sure he has some sort of records in his office, but we need a warrant. We were able to obtain one to enter your father's house to see if he was there and get him out, but that's all we could get through to the judge right now. We can't get a warrant for his office without proof of wrongdoing. So far, he has police in his pocket that attend these parties, as well as professors here and at the other colleges, and a lot of other people that can easily put a stop to anything we put together that isn't ironclad. If it were any other way, your father would have been arrested this last weekend. We had two men at the party, but by the time they arrived, it was almost over. Ryuken's smart, he often brings people in staged intervals so those he's less sure of don't see the good clients that partake in the first part of the party.

"The officers had been invited many times and refused, so Ryuken was suspicious when they accepted. No other clients were at the location when they arrived, and they had no way to pin anything on anyone save your father. We don't know how far the corruption goes. We have to nail him beyond a doubt along with as many of his clients as we can get," Shunsui said with a sigh, running a hand over his hair.

"Ichigo was there," Uryuu said with ice in his voice. "And they didn't get him out? The neighbor said he could barely stand when he brought him home that morning." His stomach had turned to a cold pit all of a sudden.

Shunsui nodded. "By the time they were there, there would have been no benefit. The party was done, so they knew that Ryuken would be taking him home. They asked Ichigo if he had consented to doing what he was doing and he indicated that there was something about his sisters; that your father had threatened to make them do what he was doing if he didn't cooperate. He said that the last party had been almost a month ago, and that fit with what we know. However, it appears he's changed things now that he has Ichigo on hand. He doesn't have to space out his parties while he waits for someone to mess up enough to blackmail into it."

Uryuu shook his head. "The bastard doesn't care about anyone but himself. I want to be there. I want to see his face when he's caught for the piece of shit that he is," Uryuu said without looking from his hands. "What has he done with Ichigo though?"

Shunsui shook his head. "We honestly don't know. Kira and Hisagi, who have helped us this week, said he left school with your father on Monday. Tuesday morning, all his teachers received an email from Ryuken apologizing but stating that Ichigo had caught a nasty flu bug and would be home all week. No one is going to question him about it, and he knows it, that's why he sent it."

"I will be there," Uryuu said, staring up at Shunsui who had sat down on the corner of the desk. "I will see him brought down."

_Friday, September 19, 2014 _

_Aizen's Summer House _

_8:00 pm_

"Are you certain he agreed to this?" Imelda Escher asked as she sipped her wine, glancing again at the boy on the floor by Aizen's feet.

He was still mostly nude, but she was well aware that Aizen enjoyed using humiliation as a form of control. At least he'd let him wear a pair of latex shorts to dinner tonight. Other than that, he was wearing the collar and cuffs, a set on his ankles now as well as the wrists, and a set of leather rigging over his chest. She sighed and shook her head. He still had that same lost look about him, like he wasn't really sure what exactly was happening to him. She was beginning to doubt Aizen's claim even more that he'd entered a consensual non-consent contract with him.

Aizen arched a brow at her. "Of course, how else would he end up here?"

She sighed and sipped the wine again and leaned forward and smiled at the orange headed boy. "Sweetie, come here," she said softly.

Aizen nudged him none too gently with his foot, jarring the plug into him almost painfully. "Move, slut," he muttered at him.

Ichigo dropped to his hands and crawled over to her to kneel beside her knee. She reached down and ran her hands slowly through his bent head. The last week had been hard on him, she could tell that quite easily by the multiple marks on his whole body. It looked like he'd literally pulled every flogger, whip, and switch out and used it on him until he was bleeding. This was not her way. She, for one, never beat her subs, not to the degree Aizen did, even if they asked her to do so. She also never did almost three months of training in less than a week. She honestly didn't know what Aizen had been thinking. Even the most sadistic Doms and Dommes didn't work this kind of frantic intensity on their subs. Especially the young ones like this one. She was still feeling quite uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"I don't understand, Aizen. How can you use such harsh methods on him? It's a wonder you didn't kill him," she muttered, pulling Ichigo's head up and tutting over a dark bruise on his left cheekbone.

Aizen rolled his eyes. "Imelda, he asked for this, I gave it. And I didn't come close to killing him, for god's sakes, woman, what kind of Dom do you think I am? When I trained Edgar, I was a lot harsher and even more rapid with the pacing. I took it easier on him because of his inexperience. I figured at his age he couldn't possible know exactly what he wanted even if he requested the harshest training I had to offer."

"How can you be so sure? He's just a teenager, Aizen, you know that right?" she said, running a gentle thumb over his swollen lips. He was trying desperately not to look at her.

"He's not a teenager," Aizen said with a huff, turning and pouring another glass of red wine for himself. "Ryuken said he was twenty-two."

Imelda sat up and let the boy drop his head again to look at the floor between his bound hands. She adjusted the low cut blouse she wore tonight. "Really?" she asked, glancing down at the boy. "Have you asked him?"

Aizen snorted. "Why would I ask him anything at all? He's here for training, not for conversation. You know my rules. I ask for complete obedience and with it complete silence."

"Really, could you act less like a dictator and more like a Dom? Calling it 'rules' even," she muttered with a "Doesn't it seem a little odd to you that Ryuken would make this trade with you after he charged you so much just to take his virginity? And please tell me you at least got his consent for that," she said with a sigh and looked up at him. She didn't miss the blush to his cheeks. "You didn't bother to ask him?"

"I asked…if he was a virgin," he said, glancing at his drink. "Look, he told me he was a bratty sub looking to learn under the best Dom in the area for limitless slaves. I was honored to be considered for that place. He told me that after he'd gotten used to being used a bit, I could train him for a short period, which I have. He told me that he was a painslut with a huge rape fantasy fetish. I complied. You know it isn't the first time I've agreed to something like that. It would have completely destroyed his desire if I had done things differently."

"And if Ryuken lied to you? How in the world would you even know if you had bothered to ask if you believed he wanted you to play out a rape scene?"

Aizen opened his mouth and closed it for a long moment. "Why would he lie?" He waved his hand dismissively. "It would make no sense; the boy could just leave and go to the cops if he hadn't wanted to be there. It isn't like he wasn't going to school every day and surrounded by other people. Ryuken has never brought us a party slut that hadn't agreed to it ahead of time."

Imelda sighed, pulling her long brown hair back into the clip again and then she continued to massage the boy's scalp. Just in the few minutes that she'd been giving him such positive attention, he'd relaxed immensely against her. It was more proof that this wasn't what he wanted, but she just couldn't seem to get it through Aizen's head. They had a casual relationship, though she rarely got along with him for more than a few minutes at a time. She'd decided to visit again tonight after the dinner party Tuesday night when she'd seen his new slave he was training. She was here because she wanted to see how the boy was. She leaned down again, making sure to tuck her bosom as she did so or it would fall out of her shirt.

"He blackmails them, though, even if they agree to it. You know I've never agreed with you going to his parties. There's something inherently wrong with doing things that way," she said with a sigh, fingers tracing the lay of Ichigo's hair. She felt him sigh, relaxing further.

Aizen sighed. "I'm sorry I don't have your sense of morality, my dear. And I wasn't interested until he sent around this one's pictures. When I won the bid on his virginity, Ryuken sent me a message with the full details of his fantasy scenario and I turned him down at first. He was very specific that he didn't know enough about America to even approach his desires, and Ryuken, while he was willing to Dom him, isn't interested in fucking him, not that he could if he wanted to with his little problem. Anyway, he also lacks the ability to train him properly for something as intense as a slave contract."

Imelda glanced at Aizen again. She had no doubt that he believed Ryuken. She honestly didn't trust the Ryuken at all. He'd been poking around in the community for the last couple years, trying to Dom when he had no clue what he was doing. That was initially how he'd encountered Aizen, at the club downtown. Aizen had actually had to pull him aside and explain some things to him because he was approaching collared subs, one of which had been Aizen's at the time, Edgar. From then on, he started showing up at events, but mostly as an observer. He never really participated, just watched the scenes play out. Now, suddenly, he has this kid that wants to go as far as a limitless slave right off the bat? She thought it sounded more than a little off. She turned back to the boy and reached under his chin gently again.

"Sweetie," she said, tipping his head up. He tried to look anywhere but her face. "No, look at me, please," she said gently and he finally let his brown eyes fall on hers. "I want you to tell me the truth. How old are you?"

Ichigo's eyes went wide. A near week of being punished for saying anything made him hesitate. He flinched as Aizen struck him with the crop he kept beside the couch. "Eighteen," he said quickly, swallowing. Imelda glared at Aizen.

Aizen started to say something then thought better of it. "So he's eighteen, come on, he lied about his age. It doesn't mean he lied about anything else. Now, he needs rest before the party tomorrow. He'll be going home after that, so you don't have to worry about me doing anything else untoward to him, Mistress Cybelle. Up," he said, yanking on the leather leash harshly. Ichigo stood and followed him out and Imelda watched. She didn't miss the subtle glance at her as he disappeared around the corner.

Ichigo thought she'd been very nice as he was led away. He wished she was his Mistress instead of his master. Maybe she wouldn't beat him for everything. He winced as he was tugged again, swallowing as they got into the bedroom. He had stopped trying to get away from him after the first day. He found that not only was it impossible, it would lead to incredibly harsh punishments that he did not want to have repeated. He wondered at what Mistress Cybelle had said that his master was trying to train him in a week like others were trained in three months. That might explain the severity of everything. Every infraction of the rules would lead to something unpleasant, and he actually couldn't identify one pleasant experience until tonight when Mistress Cybelle had petted his hair. That had been nice and he liked that a lot. Now, though, he was expected to please his master before bed.

"You've been such a fast learner, my little slut. Now, you'll have to learn how your real master wishes to be served. Remember, your uncle may not like to be pleased as I do," he said softly, opening his robe and sitting on the side of the bed. "He was generous to let me train you, though I do so wish he'd give me more time. I understand, your absence would be missed if it lasted much longer. Even your uncle could not explain away months of you being gone. He's promised you can come stay with me this summer, though."

Ichigo knew his place now. The first two nights had been disastrous. Now he knew what he wanted when he sat down on the end of the bed. He dropped to his knees and took him into his mouth and was careful not to scrape his teeth on him or look upward. Both actions were punishable by being locked onto the cross all night caged and plugged. Not that the caging really bothered him. Perhaps the only rule he'd never had trouble with was not coming without his master's permission. The rest, though, those had been hard to learn, especially since he didn't want to be whipped with the leather cat or beat with the crop. He was glad the maid was kind. She would clean his back with his master was gone since he was generally left bound when his master left him.

He didn't like the idea of another master, though. He'd just really learned now to service this one, and now he had to serve his uncle in the same way? And whoever his uncle told him he had to serve? It wasn't fair; he didn't want to have different people to serve. He internally winced. How much defiance was left in him? He'd been punished so many times for that, and he still thought of defying his master. A week, a week, a voice in his head screamed. You've been changed this much in less than a week? He shook the voice away. What else was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he had a choice. He could either be in constant pain or he could do as he was told. It was also so much easier to just be told what to do. He knew the rules; he knew the consequences of violating them. It was all so much easier. Maybe if he knew his uncle's rules, he wouldn't hate him so much. He wouldn't mind that.


	5. The Tipping Point

**Quiet Protector**

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_A/N: Thanks to SapphireTou for use of her OCs Estrella and Imelda! _

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**Chapter Five**

_The Tipping Point_

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_UMSL, Ryuken Ishida's Office _

_Saturday, September 21, 2014 _

_4:00 pm_

From what he'd been told, the "party" didn't start until nearly eight that evening, so Kira was extremely curious as to exactly why he had been told to come to Ryuken's office over four hours early. He knew that Urahara had been told to be there at five. Kira had worn a pair of baggy jeans and a light yellow polo shirt with some sneakers, looking every bit the part of a kid who was expected to do menial community service to get his happy ass out of trouble. He knocked on the office door. There was a small microphone on the underside of his collar. Shunsui and his team would have taken up a point near the campus in case Kira gave the panic word to extract him. He had already told himself he wasn't going to use it no matter what happened to him. He was on this mission for one reason and that was to get Ichigo out of whatever hell he had been put into. Well, perhaps there were two reasons. The other was to pin Ryuken Ishida to the wall for what he'd done to him.

"Enter," came Ryuken's voice and Kira walked in, glancing as he put files into a locked cabinet behind him. He took note of the location because he was willing to bet those were the files on the prostitution ring.

"Afternoon, sir," he said hesitantly.

"Ah, Mr. Kira, good, you're on time, I like that in a boy. Now, I am going to be taking you to a place today where you can get ready for your service. And I do ask you keep in mind that you agreed to do anything to get yourself out of trouble," he said, scribbling down something. "Come along, I have to drop you off and return to give directions to a new attendee to the party you'll be servicing."

Feigning complete ignorance, Kira smiled. "Servicing? I'll be a waiter?"

Ryuken smiled. "Something like that," he said and Kira wanted to haul off an hit him. He didn't, using his training in martial arts to calm himself. It was a matter of timing. If he blew it now, there would be no guarantee that they could save Ichigo.

Before long, they'd arrived an extravagant looking home in the Northland area. He sucked in a breath. There were two reasons to use the panic word. One was if he was in danger, and the second was if he made contact with Ichigo and he was in danger of being harmed. If possible, he was to wait until the guests had arrived to request extraction. Considering that Ryuken had to take payments, they doubted anything would happen to either of them before the start of the party. However, there were no guarantees in this situation.

Ryuken pulled in and led him into the house, nodding to the servants and opened a door down at the end of a hallway. It was a large bedroom with an en suite bath. It was simply decorated, but it was cozy. Kira was wondering if perhaps they had been wrong about nothing happening until later. It wasn't like he was unwilling to go to any length to help Ichigo, he'd already decided if he had to lay with one of the bastards just to save him, he'd do it. That would be awkward, however, since he was being listened to from the van.

"Wait here until I return. Do not leave this room, and do not make any noise. Do you understand? And give me your cell. They're not allowed in here," he said, reaching out. Kira handed it to him nervously and sat down on the end of the bed. Ryuken left, and he heard the door lock behind him. Now he had to wait.

He sighed and flopped onto the bed and guessed he should let those listening know what was happening. "I've been taken to a locked bedroom, nothing special about it. I suppose it is a matter of waiting now."

He flopped back on the bed and swore he heard someone talking. He sat up and went to the door and pressed an ear to it and heard two voices outside. It was so quiet it didn't take much for him to pick up their conversation.

"…and then it was like he suddenly didn't want to be there, right? Who the hell agrees to be a hooker and then decides in the middle of being fucked, he doesn't want to anymore?" came a deep voice followed by a chuckle.

"Man, that's something. You fuck him rough for that shit?" the second one said.

"Damn straight. Little fucking brat. Should have known what he was agreeing to, not my fault his little ass hadn't been used but once or twice."

"Yeah, you know. Oh, did you see the new one Ishida brought in?"

"Hmm, yeah, little twink bitch." Kira frowned . He was _not _a twink. If he wasn't trying to keep quiet he would show those stupid bastards…

"I dunno, I like the other twink better. Something about those big brown eyes…" Kira bristled. He had to be talking about Ichigo.

"Shit man, what you talking about? You ain't getting a piece of that tail. Fuck, Aizen's got that bitch on his knees most the time, haven't you seen?" Kira found himself having to force himself stop grinding his teeth.

"Man, who would have thought Ishida'd bring him here? Fuck, man, the way he sits on his feet and when he snaps he sucks him off where ever they're at and good god, I'm fuckin' gonna cream just thinking about it."

There was a loud snort. "So go find some little bitch and train him as your fuckin' slave. All you got to do. But I'll tell you a secret, though, if he stays after tonight, about how to get a chance to fuck him."

There was a long pause. "How?"

"See, if he fucks up in front of you, Aizen'll get pissed off and make him suck you off or let you fuck him raw. So the trick is you gotta trick him into it without Aizen realizing you did it. I got one hell of a fuck out of Edgar. Aizen had him on the leash and he was on all fours walking through right by me. I kicked the edge of the table as he walked by and a vase slipped off. Such a soft, sweet thing he was…"

Kira wanted to punch a fist right through the door. Considering he could break bricks, he was pretty sure a door wasn't going to pose much threat. Instead he stepped back, unable to listen to any more. It lent a lot of credit to his theory of what had been done to him in the week he'd been gone. It still turned his stomach, especially now that he knew he was probably right.

_Ryuken Ishida's Office_

_5:10 pm_

Urahara waited nervously outside the office. He wasn't here. He knew that he'd taken Kira to some house in the Northland. A few more minutes passed and Ryuken came down the hall and smiled.

"So sorry, Kisuke. I had an errand to run and the traffic was horrid. Now, here you are," he said, handing him a plain telephone. "Be in the northern area of St. Louis. You'll get a text about fifteen minutes until 8 with an address. Keep the phone, it will be how you will be informed of future get-togethers. Now, I must be off. I'll see you there, and remember five hundred cash at the door." He said and turned and left.

Urahara nodded and headed out. He, of course, already knew the location, because Kira had been followed. He went to his car and went to a location about ten minutes south of where Kira had been taken and hoped that he wouldn't be moved again. He saw the police van waiting in the store lot already. He parked and headed out to Zaraki, Jaeger and a girl sat waiting.

"He gave me a phone and is supposed to message me with the address before hand. I'll forward it to you the minute I have it," he said with a curt nod.

The blonde man went to go sit in his small car. Estrella leaned forward. "So, why are we involving so many civvies in this?" she asked.

Grimm turned around and grinned at her. "With so many in the police and government involved, we're needed a check and balance system. And the ones involved want to help, so they are highly motivated."

She smiled. "I'm still…this whole scene this guy is into…" she said with a shake of her head.

Zaraki glanced up into the mirror. "Whatcha mean, the bondage shit?"

Grimm nodded. "Yeah, you haven't seen much of it. I mean, until now we weren't sure on Aizen, but now that we know it. Be ready for some of this stuff."

"I've seen some," she said, lifting up the file on Aizen that they'd grabbed as soon as they found out where Kira'd been taken. "But this is some twisted shit."

"To each their own," Grimm said with a shrug. "Almost everything in that folder is completely legal and consensual. Except him buying prostitutes of course."

She grimaced. "But this guy, he looks like he's been held by terrorists and beaten. And he wanted it?"

Zaraki nodded. "I've done more than one homicide where someone's taken it too far. Those aren't nice, because they end up being manslaughter charges, and no one is happy. The vics want to charge murder and assault, but since its consensual, it has to be considered unintentional. And the perp is usually more distraught than anyone else because they didn't want it to happen."

"I just…man. So he drags them around like a dog? And beats them and practically forces them into all sorts of sex acts and they like it? I just…its hard to wrap my head around," she said with a sigh, flipping through some photos of known associates.

"Wrap it, sister," Grimm said. "This party tonight will feature some of this shit, though hopefully we bust it before anything serious happens to the boy."

"Wow, I mean, I was in ROTC and we thought we were being tortured by the drills and exercises…and that was just to make our bodies stronger. I guess I can't get the purpose of letting someone control you so completely like this," she said, closing the folder. "It was hard enough being ordered around by superious, but to be ordered to do these things? And wow…"

"Did it work?" Zaraki asked, glancing in the mirror again.

"What?" she said, blinking and looking up.

"All that sadistic torture to make you stronger?" he said with a lopsided grin.

She laughed. "You bet. Got addicted to it, you know. Still go rock climbing and I do triatholons."

"See, you got something out of it. Believe it or not, these people get something out of it too," Grimm said with a nod at her.

She looked at him for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose you're right…" she said and they lapsed into silence while she read some of the reports in the file.

_Operations Van_

_Outside Aizen's Summer Home_

_7:00 pm_

"Stop fidgeting, Uryuu," Ukitake said with a sigh to the dark haired boy sitting in front of the computers. He was listening to the recording coming from Kira's feed at the moment, but he kept moving around.

He put down the headphones. "I'm sorry. I just want to get this over with. There is a part of me that hopes that all this is wrong, and that there will be some sort of misunderstanding. I know that isn't true. Tell me again why we couldn't just go in there and get him out and arrest my bastard father? Don't we have enough?"

Shunsui sat down again with some coffee and passed it around. "I know this is hard to understand, son, but there is at least one judge, one commissioner, and several officers, one of which is on vice. If we don't catch them, Ryuken will slip through he cracks with the help someone will give him. That isn't even counting the man that owns this house. We didn't know he was involved until we realized where we were going to."

"Who owns it?" Uryuu asked, wincing at the strong coffee.

"Sōsuke Aizen. He's the deputy mayor. He's also a well-known…" Shunsui paused and took a sip of his coffee, not continuing.

Uryuu noted it. "He's a what?"

Shunsui sighed. "His preferences in partners is generally young, male, and masochistic. He's been a member of the BDSM community for many years, and it's one of those secrets everyone knows about and no one talks about sort of thing. Grimm and Ken have a file on it, but I already knew the information since I'm in vice."

Uryuu nodded then looked up sharply. "What? You mean, my cousin has been with him this whole week?"

"We don't know that," Ukitake assured. "We have no idea if he has been here or somewhere else."

That assurance didn't help Uryuu's nerves. He put the headset back on and heard the soft rhythm of Kira's breathing. He'd been a little surprised to find out it as Kira that had volunteered for this. Uryuu was a year older than him, but had come across him in a few classes. He was always shy, soft spoken and seemed to always avoid eye contact with others. His best friend, though, was quite the well-known man whore, and one was pressed to find a girl in the school Hisagi hadn't slept with or at least tried to sleep with.

There was a rumor that Kira was gay, hence the reason he was never seen with a girl, but Uryuu knew that didn't necessarily mean anything. He didn't date and he wasn't gay. He was bi, but that wasn't the point. He sighed and wondered why Kira would do such a thing. It just seemed uncharacteristic. By going in undercover, he was taking the very real chance that he'd be overpowered and hurt, raped, or killed before they could get in to help him. Of course, that made the operation delicate. One wrong move, and Kira, Urahara or even Ichigo could be wounded or killed. Having people on the inside ensured that they would be safe, but even then, there was no surety in this. There had been more than one trying to dissuade Uryuu from going in with the police. He had on a bulletproof vest, though they weren't even sure if anyone was carrying guns. Shunsui had insisted both he and Ukitake wear vests, and both grudgingly had agreed to it.

Uryuu glanced at the counselor, who he could see talking but not hear with the headphones on now. There was something going on about Renji. He'd seen the look on Ukitake's face when he mentioned Renji said to trust him. Did that mean… Wait, he thought. Renji had gotten weird when he told him about Ichigo, then left. Had…had he been blackmailed into doing this? If he had, how…how could he even stand to be in the same room with Uryuu? He sighed, thinking he would have to have a long talk with his best friend and roommate. If his father had done this to him too… It was going to be a very good think he'd be behind bars because Uryuu wasn't sure he wouldn't try to kill his own father otherwise.

A suddne thought crashed into him all of a sudden and he turned around suddenly. He dropped the headphones to his neck.

"Doctor Ukitake, what about Ichigo's family?" he said quietly.

Both Ukitake and Shunsui looked up at him and then looked at each other. "Oh, his family will have to be contacted…" Ukitake said finally. "There will be a trial and so much has happened, I hadn't thought about his family in Japan.

Shunsui patted him on the back. "We'll get the chief to arrange for them to be flown in as soon as this is settled. Uryuu, though, I think it would be better if you contacted them. Ichigo's father is your uncle, right?"

Uryuu nodded. "By marriage, but yes. I suppose I should contact him. If I'd realized something sooner…maybe this could have been avoided."

Self-blame seemed to be a hallmark of the Ishidas and the Kurosakis, he thought to himself as he put the headphones back on and heard Kira's voice.

"Door's unlocking…"

_Aizen's Summer Home_

_Earlier today: ~5:00 pm_

Ichigo wasn't sure how much time had passed since he'd been strung up on the cross this time. His back was on fire again. Why he couldn't keep his mouth shut, he had no idea. It had been so stupid. Master Black had said that tonight he would go home with Ryuken and he'd said that he wanted to stay with Master Black. He said something out loud. That had been the wrong thing to do, and he had known that before the words left his lips. He understood now, just from picking up small things, that Master Black wasn't a bad person at all. He was actually quite predictable and Ichigo liked that a lot. He didn't have to wonder, he knew the results of any action before they even happened. He knew the consequences of speaking. Complete obedience and complete silence, those were all, and he still couldn't do it right. He was worthless at this, and Master was right when he told him how useless he was. It was predictable. To be honest, it had become quite comfortable to know what to expect from everything.

His uncle, though, he was unpredictable. He worried that he would not be able to follow the rules that he set for him, mostly because he worried that he would change the rules without telling him and then punish him. At least Master Black was clear about what to do and not do. He swallowed back the spit trying to escape around the ball gag. He also didn't really like the gags much but he wasn't allowed to talk to Master Black, or at all really, so he couldn't express it. Master Black loved the gags. He had a lot of them. Ichigo hated the ones that held his mouth open the worst because they hurt his jaw too much. Of course, even if he told him, Master Black wouldn't change the way he did things. Complete silence meant that he really liked to use gags.

There were two rules. Complete obedience and complete silence. It was so much easier than trying to figure out what his uncle was thinking and trying to decide if he was going to get slapped for something that yesterday he'd said without a problem. He didn't have to worry about being yelled at for coming down late for dinner one day, and the next day having it dismissed as though it were no problem. He didn't have to be put through being told not to speak, then being punished for not speaking. His uncle didn't know what he wanted, either that or he just enjoyed keeping him off kilter.

He started with a gasp as he felt his hands on his bare back. "Oh, I am going to miss this, pretty little slut of mine. You are by far my favorite slave that I've trained. I do notice you don't ever get aroused, though. I wonder about that," he said thoughtfully. "I've never had slave that never got aroused by their punishment…"

He stepped away and Ichigo wondered what he meant by that. Of course he wouldn't be aroused by being beaten. Why would anyone? He swallowed thickly and mulled over that thought. He actually expected him to be aroused? Mistress Cybelle had said something about this being wrong for him. Maybe if he enjoyed it, it would have been easier. He definitely didn't enjoy it, though.

"It makes me think of Mistress Cybelle's words, boy. And now I can't ask you because you'll tell me what you believe I desire to hear even if I let you talk to me," he said, thoughtfully. There was no doubt about that. He knew what to expect and he gave his master exactly what he wanted of him.

Ichigo felt his body go slack and saw that he was unhooking the cuffs from the cross bars and unclipped the chain for the hook from the collar. He sighed as he removed the object from him. He hated the hook so much…but Master Black enjoyed it greatly to see him tied with it inside him. It forced him to hold his head at one particular angle and he ended up with cramping neck muscles. If he moved his head too much, it pulled on the hook and that hurt a lot more than the neck cramps. Each day, he'd shortened the chain by one link and today was the shortest it had been and he'd nearly had to hold his head backward to keep the pressure off his body. He stepped off the blocks that he'd been standing on to the floor. He held back a whimper as he stumbled on his bad leg, nearly feeling his knee buckle under him.

"You have trouble with that knee," his master commented. "And more trouble than I would think if it was a sports injury like your uncle said."

Ichigo would have told him that of course it wasn't a sports injury. He'd never been allowed in sports. He managed to pull himself onto his feet again and placed his hands on the back of his head to wait, eyes on the floor. At least he'd stopped making him sit on the balls of his feet crouched after he realized how much pain that position put his knee in. He still had to do the kneeling positions, but he'd allowed him to stand more often as the week wore on and the pain wore lines in his face.

"You've learned so well," he commented, trailing the flat of the crop against his sides. "Ah, well, let's get you ready for tonight."

_~8:00 pm_

The door eventually opened and Kira whispered to that effect in the microphone. Kira sat up to see Ryuken enter. "Come now, boy, time to earn your way out of trouble. You are going to be a party slut."

Kira blinked. "What?" He should really become an actor, he thought to himself. He was pretty good at this.

"You heard me. Your community service is to go into that room next door and do whatever the fuck they ask you to do. If they want to drag you in here and fuck you, they will. If they want you on your knees in front of everyone sucking their cock, you will do it. If you for a moment think you'll do otherwise, I'll have your ass in front of disciplinary Monday morning and expelled before lunch. Do you understand me?" Ryuken said with a serious face.

Kira tried to blush but he'd been expecting it so he didn't do too well, so he simply nodded, staring wide eyed at him in hopes of looking shocked. "Good," Ryuken said. "Keep your fucking mouth shut unless you want it slapped. Keep your eyes down, and don't even think of trying anything funny."

Ryuken grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a large open living room where Kira was surprised to see around fifteen people sitting around. Most were men, but there were a couple women there as well. One was a stunning woman in a nearly see through dress with brown hair. The other had short hair and was watching everyone rather intently. Beside her was a man with bright blue hair and a simply enormous mountain of a man with spiked black hair and an eye patch. He tried not to meet Urahara's eyes where he sat across the room. Almost immediately he found himself being manhandled into a tall, lanky man's lap.

"Well, aren't you pretty? I'm Nnoitra," he said, clamping one hand on the inside of his thigh. "Fondling fee won't be enough for you. I'll have to buy an hour of your time." Kira resisted the urge to plant his fist in the man's face. He appeared to have lost use of one eye already. He felt more than happy to put the other one out if he had to do so.

"Where's Ishida's other bitch?" a tall dark skinned man said from across at the next couch. "I heard he left him with Aizen, and Master Black turned him turned that little brat into quite the minx over this week."

Kira stiffened. He had to be talking about Ichigo. Just what the hell had he done to him? He'd gathered from the speakers outside his door and now this, that this definitely had something to do with BDSM.

"Speaking of," Nnoitra said.

"Good evening, my wonderful guests. I do hope you enjoyed the change in venue. And of course, the mixing of some of my personal friends with my business associates," a man in a pristine black suit came around the corner said with a smile. He glanced behind him and yanked hard on what Kira thought looked like a leash. "Come on, no dawdling. You've a busy night, slut."

Kira bit his lip then until it bled into his mouth. He had Ichigo in a set of cuffs and a collar and was leading him by a leash. He had his head bowed and dropped to his knees beside the man that was leading him as soon as he sat down. It didn't take much to put together what the last week had been about with certainty. He was wearing nothing except a pair of what looked like latex shorts. Every part of his exposed body was crisscrossed with varying shades of markings, both various shades of welts and bruises.

"Wow, you certainly beat the fight outta him, Master Black," the large black man said with a grin.

The man shrugged. "I did what he wanted. Never seen one this young that wanted to be treated like this, but what can I say? I enjoy training a good painslut as a slave."

Kira was having difficulty sitting still on the man's lap. He felt him pinch his thighs painfully. "Sit still, bitch," Nnoitra growled in his ear. "Or I'll have him tie you to the cross and beat the fight out of you. Nobody can make a slut squirm like Master Black there. He is great with the cat or the crop. I wouldn't mind seeing our pretty white flesh blossoming with cherry red welts."

Ryuken came forward and clapped loudly, startling several people in the room. "Most of you know the drill. Those of you that are new, I'll give you the details in quick format up here. Come find me with any questions. Five hundred was your entrance fee to the party. You can touch the merchandise, fondle, prod, poke, whatever. If you want to use my freshly trained slave on the cross, it's another five hundred. A public fuck or blow from either boy is fifteen hundred. Fifteen minutes, no more, not my problem if you can't get your rocks off. Private room for an hour is twenty five hundred. Five hundred discount each if two of you want to go in at the same time. Anything else, negotiable. Payment now for all services, so choose your poison and which boy you want. Know the blonde is new to this, so you may have to manhandle him a bit."

Kira almost gave the panic word and then heard a woman beside him. "You are taking it too far," the woman with the sheer dress said to Aizen. "How much did you punish him today? He looks terrible."

"Mistress Cybelle. Still on your moral high horse? He goes back with Ishida tonight, so I enjoyed him as much as I could today," he said with a roll of his eyes as he causally slapped Ichigo's back with the crop at his side. Ichigo didn't wince at all. She could see the obvious dark circles around his eyes. So much for the rest Aizen had claimed he would get when she left the night before.

"He's exhausted, Master Black. And then you have him bring another blackmailed student in." She turned and grabbed Kira by the chin and stared at him. "What got you here?" she asked seriously.

He swallowed, glancing first down at Ichigo and back up to her. She frowned slightly, cutting her eyes toward the boy on the floor. Kira muttered. "Drugs…"

Imelda knew a drug user when she saw one. This kid was not one. She saw how he kept glancing at the boy on the floor in subtle ways. She also noted the discomfort that he was at sitting and being groped by Nnoitra. She saw the set of his jaw and the gaze that showed no fear at all, only single minded determination. She smiled and nodded. So that was it, the boy was here for the other one. She could read the quiet dominance he exuded even without intending to do so.

"I see," she said and went to sit down on the other side of the room to watch. The "patrons" paid their fees to Ryuken. He smiled and looked up, obviously quite pleased with the amount of money he had been given.

"Very well, the boys are all yours now…" he began.

"Hello, _father," _came a voice from behind Ryuken. He snapped around and was face to face with his son. He blinked rapidly for a moment at him. Uryuu stood behind him, arms crossed, wearing his slacks and button down from earlier.

"Uryuu?" he asked, confused. "What…how…what are you doing here?" he asked.

Uryuu was quite satisfied with his reaction. For the first time, his father was flustered and unsure of what was going on. He glanced around looking for others who shouldn't be there.

"Hoping that they were wrong. I see they weren't. I can't believe you've sunk to this level, Ryuken. I'm ashamed to be your son now more than ever," Uryuu said, eyes going to his cousin's bent form by Aizen's knee. "And how did you convince Aizen over there to rape and torture him? We have already gotten the files from your office. We know that Aizen paid you a large amount of money when you took him out the first time. You sold his virginity to the highest bidder and then let him rape him for it. How sick is that? Does he even know what you did? Does he even know you manipulated him in your sick and twisted attempt at punishing Ichigo for something he had no control over?"

Aizen jumped to his feet, startling Ichigo into jumping backward into the couch. "What? I've done no such thing. Everything between me and this young man is consensual. Ryuken set up everything before hand! I only fulfilled the boy's fantasy, nothing more."

Kira slid off the tall man's lap. "I don't think so," Kira said, turning a hard eye on Ryuken's shocked face. He looked at the people all around him. "Every one of you who has taken part in this deserves to never see the light of day. He never consented to any of this, and if you were told he did, you've been had."

Kira moved forward and kneeled by Ichigo's side, Aizen's brown eyes staring down in shock. Kira lifted up his chin and noted that his eyes moved away from his face immediately. "Ichi? Its Izuru, from your class, remember?" he said softly.

Ichigo's eyes locked onto his for a minute and he mouthed his name. Kira's heart leapt. "No, talk to me, please," he said, smiling at him. "I'm not going to let him hurt you again. Come on, no one is going to hurt you again, not if I can do anything about it," he said, reaching for him. Ichigo hesitated but moved toward him and let Kira pull him into an embrace. Kira closed his eyes and felt his shoulder begin to grow damp.

Imelda stood and stared at him. "I warned you not to trust this bastard. He lied to you about his age, and you didn't think he'd lie about something else?"

"Indeed, Mistress Cybelle," came a voice from the doorway and everyone looked to see Shunsui and Ukitake come in followed by several uniformed officers. "He should have listened, my dear lady."

She saw that several of the other guests had gotten up, and some were already taking other guests into custody. It was obviously a sting operation. She was glad Shunsui was there, as he could vouch that she would have had no part in what was happening. The blue haired detective that had joined them recently came over and looked at Aizen. He cuffed him and Uryuu stepped toward him.

"What other lies did he feed you? Exactly what did he say?" Uryuu said.

Aizen's eyes were wide. He wanted to answer but he seemed robbed of his voice. Uryuu shook his head. "Did he tell you that he has a debilitating injury in his left knee, that if he's not careful, he could end up unable to walk? Did he let you know that he speaks perfect English? Did he tell you that he turned eighteen in July? Obviously he lied to you there, according to your lady friend there. So I'm guessing he lied about a lot of other things." Uryuu turned back to his father who was also being cuffed nearby and stared.

"I'm afraid, deputy mayor, that you're going to be placed under arrest for charges for first degree rape as well as all the prostitution charges we have you on," Grimm said with a satisfied grin.

Nearby, Ulquiorra, Zommari and Nnoitra were all in cuffs by Estrella. She smiled as she shoved the three of them out the door. "IA is waiting to talk to you three," she said with a smile at them.

Aizen was glaring daggers at Ryuken as he was being led away by Grimm. "You bastard. You fucking bastard! You told me it was a consensual non consent contract! You told me he wanted me to play out his rape fantasy! You used me, you son of a bitch!" he screamed as he was drug out the door. "I will fucking end you!"

Urahara came up to Ryuken and smiled. "It's taken us a long time to put a stop to what you've been doing. No more. Your contacts can't help you if they're all behind bars. There's no one to help you now."

Ryuken rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know that the little bitch over there won't be the same again. If nothing else, I've had my satisfaction in breaking him completely. Good luck putting him back together." He was led out by Zaraki silently.

"I will help with that," Imelda said, stepping forward. "I can't undo what has been done, but I can help you learn to help him," she said, turning to where Kira sat, holding the orangette in his arms.

Kira looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"He's going to need a Dom to get him through this. He's going to need someone to take control, or he'll fall apart after the way Aizen trained him this week," she said softly. "And I would offer, but it is quite obvious that you and he have a connection. I am offering to teach you what you need to know."

"I'm not going to do what he did to him! I won't hurt him or force him or anything like that," Kira said, pulling Ichigo in closer. "No, I'm not going to do that."

Imelda smiled. "You can ask Shunsui, that's not the way I do things. Shunsui and I have known each other a long time."

Kira looked over to see the slothful man nod with a smile. "That is true; Mistress Cybelle is a beautiful person."

"I don't understand why…can't I just…take care of him?" Kira asked, swallowing against a ball rising in his throat. He didn't want to hurt him. He didn't want to see him cry like this. He wanted him to be happy and laugh with him, and he wanted to help him.

He felt Ukitake put his hand against his back. "She's talking about doing just that. There's a lot to it, Izuru, but he's been trained for a week, intensely from what I see, and he's going to need someone to keep him together. Before that, Ryuken forced him into prostitution and there is little doubt that is impacting how he reacted to Aizen's methods. And from what Uryuu says, he was already suffering from anxiety problems that were severe enough to require medications. So that just makes this more difficult for him. It will almost be like coming down off a high for the next week or two, and he's going to need someone who can hold him and keep him in control. He's going to break apart if we just let him be. It's a wonder he hasn't dropped already," Ukitake said. "Or it may be that he has been kept in such a state of intensity that he hasn't been able to come down."

"I think that is the case, Professor," Imelda said with a sigh, noting the subtle trembles going through him at the moment. "Izuru, was it?" she asked. Kira nodded. "You must stay with him. You must touch and sooth and hold him as much as you can. He's going to suffer a great deal more if you don't. Do you have a place to take him after tonight? I'm sure he'll stay at the hospital overnight but after that he needs somewhere to go, preferably with you. He trusts you, obviously."

"I still don't understand," Kira said, glancing down to see Ichigo was shaking worse. He had been fine, well, that was a relative term, before, and now he was leaning heavily into him, clumsily clutching at him with his hands as though drunk.

"You will, sweetheart. You will have to in order to get him through this. If you aren't committed to doing what needs to be done, though, you have to say so. I'll take him if you aren't willing to do so. I can't see a boy suffer like this," she said, reaching out and running a hand over his head gently.

Kira frowned. "No, I'll do whatever has to be done, I want to protect him, I want to make him safe," he said, glancing up at her. She smiled.

"Good, that is what will be necessary. You want to do this for the reasons I do this, to protect, to love, and nurture. Now, come, let's get him to the hospital. He may need a sedative after today," she said softly, helping both of them to their feet. Ichigo glanced at her with wide eyes and then looked around.

"Sweetie, he was never your Master," she said softly. "You are free to choose what you would like," she said with a gentle smile. She noted that his hand tightened around Kira's where he'd meshed them together. "Good," she said with another smile.

At the hospital, they'd had to sedate him to be able to look him over at all. He was obviously not entirely with it, and almost acted drugged even though his toxicology came back clean. They soon found that if they let Kira stay in the room, he was less likely to fight them. Eventually a doctor who Kira couldn't remember the name of came back in and spoke to Imelda. She had stayed with him the entire time.

"He's physically going to be fine," she said to them both. Ichigo was sleeping and Kira was sitting in a chair pulled right up next to his head. "He's exhausted completely; obviously he hasn't been allowed much sleep. He's got obvious signs of sexual abuse, and of course, the contusions and abrasions. His zygomatic bone is cracked, where the deep bruise on his cheek is, but other than that he doesn't have anything serious. It matches with what you told us, Ms. Escher. Of course, mentally, he's withdrawn and avoidant. He isn't showing responsiveness to anyone else except for Mr. Kira over there…"

"Izuru?" a voice came from the doorway. Kira looked up and saw that his father was standing there. "What's happening? Dr. Kerry?" he said, looking at the female doctor.

"Your son came in with the young man there," Dr. Kerry said with a nod at the bed. "He's not been hurt, but he was involved in a sting operation that busted a prostitution ring."

"What?" Dr. Kira said, coming in and looking at the boy in the bed and his son. "What happened?"

Kira sighed and told his father everything that had been going on over the last week. It was a long and confusing tale because there were many things that Kira was unsure of yet. He ended and found unconsciously his hand had gone to Ichigo's hair and was petting him. His father blinked and looked down. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take care of him, father. I know you doubt me when I say I'm gay. I get that. But I can't hide the truth from myself. I…I liked him before this happened, and I was willing to put myself at risk for him. I'm not going to abandon him now. He needs me, and I need someone to take care of and protect, if that makes sense," he said, reaching out and patting Ichigo's hand gently.

Dr. Kira nodded. "Izuru, I am proud of you. I'm proud of you being so brave and wanting to help someone else. And I'm proud of you for standing up for what you are and what you believe in. I'll help you in any way I can, son," he said, reaching out and ruffling his son's wild, blonde hair.

_Police Department_

_~1:00 am_

"Hello, Kurosaki Clinic," a male voice on the other end of the phone said in a chipper tone in Japanese.

"Uncle Isshin?" Uryuu said softly from where he sat at the desk belonging to Captain Zaraki.

"Oi, nephew!" he said, and Uryuu could imagine the goofy grin on the man's face. "How are you? Wait, isn't it late there?"

"It is, Uncle. I…I have something to tell you. It…it's about Ichigo."

There was a long pause. "Uryuu, what's happened? Is he okay?" The traces of joviality and happiness were gone from the man's voice, and now it was lined with worry.

Uryuu swallowed thickly. "He's okay, he's going to be fine."

"Going to be?"

"We…we think…but we…we're not sure. He's physically okay, but…but…this is all my fault, I should have seen it, I should have realized it sooner, Uncle Isshin, I…I should have stopped him!" he said, feeling tears welling and already choking up.

"Stopped who? Ichigo?" Isshin said calmly.

"No, Ryuken. I should have done something, I should have stopped him…if I'd seen it sooner…if I'd done something…I'm so sorry…I…I deserve to be in jail with him!" he said in a rush and felt a hand on his shoulder as he finally let go the pain that had been welling in his chest all day. Someone took the phone away from him and he was extremely glad because he couldn't talk at the moment.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" Grimm said into the phone. "Um, yeah, do you speak English?"

"_Hai_, uh, yes, I speak English, who are you and what's happening? Ryuken's in jail?" Isshin said, starting to get worried more and more by the second.

"Yeah, look, man we thought your nephew would be best, but he's in no condition to talk at the moment. He's been through a lot of severe emotional stress, and I'm probably going to be too crass about this…" Grimm said with a sigh.

"Look, just give me what's happened. I'm a doctor. I've reattached severed limbs and been shot at. I need to know what's happened to my son," Isshin said, and Grimm could hear other voices in the background now speaking in what he assumed was Japanese, a couple female voices.

"Okay, well, that's the best way," Grimm said, sinking into his seat a little ways away from his captain's desk where Shunsui had come to help Uryuu. "Ryuken Ishida was arrested tonight on charges of running a prostitution ring and blackmail. He has been using his position as head of the school disciplinary board to get students to participate as prostitutes at parties he runs. We've been on the scent for a while, but he had participants that were on the force, including sex crimes and vice, as well as one of our commissioners and a local judge. One of his clients was also the deputy mayor. It was quite difficult to put a stop to it. We had a recent break when my captain and I managed to get in, and we…we found out that he'd forced your son into participating under threats that he could somehow manage to harm you and your daughters."

There was a long pause. "My brother in law was forcing my son into prostitution. Please tell me you caught him before he'd had a chance to hurt my son."

Grimm swallowed and sighed. "I wish I could, Mr. Kurosaki."

"Doctor. It's Dr. Kurosaki," came the terse reply.

"Ah yeah, sorry, Dr. Kurosaki. From what we can tell he was forced to participate in two of these parties. We haven't gotten all the details of who attended each one. However, we have in custody those that did attend. However, there's more to what's happened than just that…" Grimm said, trying to figure out how the hell to explain what else had happened.

"More than 'just' that," Isshin said, and Grimm caught the cold edge to his voice. He knew instinctively this was the type of man you did not fuck with.

"Well, he seems to have arranged with the deputy major who we have in custody some sort of contract. Aizen is a member of the local…ah…bondage scene. It seems he had an arrangement with Mr. Ishida to…uh…train… your son as…I guess some sort of slave. He's in the hospital tonight with a lot of contusions and lacerations, but nothing serious. He's, however, pretty unresponsive to anyone except this one kid that went in undercover for us to help bust the ring. We have a local Domme that we've worked with extensively that's trying to help figure out what to do to try and help him, but…"

"You're telling me that my brother in law, a man that I trusted to send my son to live with, took my son and sold him into prostitution and slavery," Isshin said, and Grimm knew that tone. Utter calm had overtaken the other man and it was honestly chilling. "So you are telling me my son was raped and tortured and convinced that he'd agreed to it."

Grimm tried not to sigh again. "That's the crux of it, Dr. Kurosaki. We've already had four tickets put on Will Call at the airport in Kyoto for you and your daughters with a flexible departure, with an extra in case you need it, so you can take your…"

"We'll be on the next flight out," came the curt reply and the phone went dead.

Grimm looked up as Shunsui came over looking more haggard than usual. "How did it go?"

"I do not want to be in the same room with this man when he arrives," he said seriously and looked over where Uryuu was sitting with his head in his hands.

"We've got a request in for the other victims to be brought in. Now that everyone is behind bars, we're hoping that they'll be willing to testify and allow release of information for their medical files," Shunsui said with a sigh.

Grimm nodded. "Do they know how many yet?"

"They haven't finished all the files, but Ishida had a file on each client and each student he'd blackmailed. It wasn't easy to find. If Kira hadn't seen the cabinet, we would have overlooked it. False back with a lock on the front and another in the back. We're looking at least twenty students over the last five years. The clients are more numerous, he's got at least fifty recorded johns, but some of them are coded, so we'll see if we can't get him to roll on them for some reduction in sentence though I'm really wishing we had some gruesome punishment for this," Shunsui said with a smile at him.

Grimm smiled. "You know what they do to pedo rapists in the joint. All these kids were technically of age, and he didn't actually rape anyone, but you know."

Shunsui clapped him on the back. "That is true."


	6. Kira's Determination

_Police Department_

_Sunday, September 22, 2014 _

_9:00 am_

Kira woke with a start when someone put a hand on his shoulder. He blinked and looked up to see it was Imelda. The night had been long. He'd stayed at the hospital, sleeping on and off until dawn and then came back to the station. Imelda said before anything else, they needed to figure out what exactly Aizen had done in his training of Ichigo, or they wouldn't know where to start. The hospital was releasing him after noon, and his family was due to arrive sometime that evening. Kira had run into Grimm earlier and heard about that phone call. He was worried about Ichigo's father's reaction to _him_ not just the situation.

"Sweetie, they're transferring Aizen out of the holding cells later today. If we want to talk to him, we have to do it now. Grimm and Shunsui are going in to talk to him now. Would you like to listen in to this part of the interview?" she asked gently. She'd changed clothes, now wearing a light colored blouse and simple skirt.

Kira nodded and stood up, following her into the observation room where inside Aizen sat handcuffed to the table with his lawyer beside him. Grimm and Shunsui sat inside along with the dark haired girl from the night before, he thought her name was Estrella or something. He knew she was from Internal Affairs.

Aizen glared at them. "Okay, look, I've already said, I'm pleading guilty to the charges and I'll give you anything you want on the bastard Ishida."

"You realize there's no staying out of jail for you, right?" Grimm asked.

Aizen rolled his eyes. "I won't be in long. Look, I've already been dismissed from the mayor's office, and I guarantee after this shit, I'll never be able to show my face in this state again. So let's get this over with."

Shunsui nodded. "You will have a supervised meeting with Imelda Escher and Izuru Kira, and you'll cooperate with them so they can help the boy you victimized."

"I didn't…I mean!" Aizen said and then just sighed. "Fine. I will tell her whatever she needs to know. What do you want to know?"

Grimm pulled out the files. "Do you have any idea who these coded entries could be referencing?"

Aizen pulled it over. He pointed to one of them. "This is me, I can tell because of the dates. I didn't go all the time. I only had interest in young, fit rent boys, not the females. See, he kept a code on each line by the date, the blue circle with the number is the boys he had, the red circle with the number is the girls. He cross referenced them to the other files."

Grimm nodded, glad that he was at least being cooperative. "And the rest?"

"I can only vouch for the ones that were there when I was," he said thoughtfully. "This…I'm betting that's James McKeller. He's a circuit court judge. He wasn't there tonight. This one is for Zommari, he appears under tonight's. And that's for Barragan. This one…I bet this is Carson White. He's a Board of Education member for the city schools. He only came this one time," Aizen went on and detailed several others that the codes might refer to, which was important because Ryuken had refused to help no matter what.

"This will look good for the judge, Aizen," Shunsui said. "Now, is there anything else you might think will help you?"

"I have the emails and messages Ryuken sent me about the boy. And the contract that I agreed to and was told he agreed to as well," he said. "My lawyer can get them."

"Okay, I'll stay here," Estrella said. "Would you send in our guests, sir?" she said with a smile, sitting at the end of the table.

A few moments later, Kira came in and sat down and stared at Aizen. Imelda's face was completely neutral. "You're already blacklisted," she said leaning back.

"I figured as much. You never like me anyway," Aizen said with an arched brow. "How far will I have to go?"

She smiled. "I would definitely stay out of Missouri and Illinois if you want to ever have another sub. Even then, you know how word spreads."

Aizen nodded. "Yeah, guess so."

"Blacklisted?" Kira asked, looking at Imelda.

"He's been blacklisted in the community. No dungeon will let him in, and no sub in their right mind will take him on as a Dom. He's ruined in our lifestyle, at least locally, and possibly further," she said softly.

Kira nodded. Imelda took out a small notepad. "What did you use on him, Aizen?"

Aizen sighed. "You know as well as I do."

"I want to know what exactly you used, Aizen. And did you find him aroused by anything in your training?" she asked.

Aizen looked down at his hands. "Um, no."

Imelda looked at him. "You trained him for five days and never once had him become aroused by what you were doing, and you didn't think it was strange?"

Aizen had the courtesy to look upset. "I did, but he could have been asexual."

"An asexual with a rape fantasy," she said, looking at him hard.

He started to speak and then closed his mouth. It wasn't unusual for asexuals or those who were not interested in the sexual aspects to become involved in the lifestyle, but it was unusual for someone who wasn't into the sex part to request the sex part. "I see your point."

"You didn't think it through, did you?" Imelda said. "Your list of mistakes is so long, Aizen. Really, as long as you've been in the community, how can you have messed this up so badly?"

"To be fair, he was well manipulated," the lawyer said from beside him. "As you will see in the emails and communications between my client and Mr. Ishida."

Imelda sighed. "You realize you took a child who probably wasn't even interested in the lifestyle and treated him like you did Edgar. You forced him into doing what you wanted and conditioned him in five days to become your perfect slave. Did you even let him sleep?"

"He slept. Mostly on the cross…but he slept."

"What's the cross?" asked Kira, glancing at Imelda.

"St. Andrew's cross, that thing that looked like a big x in the back of the room. It's used to hold a sub while they're flogged or whipped, or for a number of other things. What else did you use?" she asked.

"Imelda, do I have to go over most of it? I trained him with the hook like I did Edgar, though he didn't seem to enjoy it like Edgar did…" Aizen said, looking away from her.

Kira turned to her again. "Something I don't use," she said quietly. "It's a hooked piece of metal that has a ball at the end. Its inserted and then attached to something else." Kira paled a bit. "And you kept him caged, I saw, didn't you think it odd he never once had come, even in the cage?"

Aizen shrugged. "Look I'm not making excuses. I fucked up. I'll go to jail and be lucky to make a life somewhere where no one knows of what happened. I used caging, kept him plugged during the time he was caged, used the cross and the hooks, he was flogged for all infractions, I kept him to the silence and obedience rules and used any deviation to whip, flog or fuck him. When he was giving reprieves, I chained him down on the floor and gagged him. I told him he was useless and worthless and nothing while I whipped him. I kept him in rigging at night if he wasn't on the cross, and when I left, I bound and gagged him alone in the bedroom. Is that enough? Or do you need day by day details?"

Imelda nodded. "Don't take your anger on me, Master Black. You did this yourself." She stood and led Kira back into the observation room. He looked up to see Uryuu come in.

"Kira," he said, surprised anyone was in the room.

"Uryuu, I didn't know you'd be here," he said. Imelda sat down on the back wall.

"Ryuken's interrogation. I wanted to see it. Are you here for that?" he said quietly.

Kira shook his head. "We needed to talk to Aizen about what he'd done to your cousin…to help him recover. He's still at the hospital but he's sedated until I get back."

Uryuu nodded and looked up as his father was escorted into the room in prison orange and handcuffed to the bar in the table. The bailiff left and a moment later the door opened and the man with black spiked hair he'd heard was Captain Zaraki of Homicide, and Shunsui came in together. There was a click as the recording devices were turned on. Kira and Uryuu could either look through the one way mirror or look at the monitor that was showing the feed.

"Interrogation, Ryuken Ishida. Charges are yet to be determined," Shunsui said and then looked across the table.

Shunsui put a few files on the table. "So, Ryuken, can you tell me what these names have in common? Momo Hinamori. Yasochika Lemura. Kaien Shiba. Kensei Muguruma. Rose Ōtoribashi. Isane Kotetsu. Renji Abarai. Mashiro Kuna. Cyan Sung-Sun. Hiyori Sarugaki. Nemu Kurotsuchi. Shinji Hirako. Hachigen Ushōda. Nanao Ise. Hanatarō Yamada. Hinto Sung. Darren Choi. Lu-Ling Chin. Rin Tsubokura."

Ryuken shrugged. "They're all Asian."

"Don't play games, Ishida," Zaraki said. "You know that those names came off the files of the student's you've blackmailed into being involved with your little prostitution ring."

"Well, if you know already, why ask me?" he said, rolling his eyes. "Sounds like you have everything figured out already. Don't blame me, all those punks got themselves into serious trouble and should have been expelled. I just offered them an opportunity."

"And your nephew?" Estrella asked from where she stood by the door. Ishida started. He hadn't even realized she was in the room. Neither had Kira and Uryuu. The woman was a freaking ninja…

He shrugged. Shunsui leaned over. "We called Dr. Kurosaki."

Ryuken turned back to him. "Yeah, it seems he's a little on the calm side. Curious, considering what you did to his son, only son I found out," Zaraki said, dropping Ichigo's file onto the table. "And he's a doctor so he's not gonna need any explanation for these files. Oh, yeah, he's on a flight here right now."

Ryuken's eyes went a bit wide at that. "That's ridiculous. He can't afford that. He spends his time doing free work at his clinic. He never has extra money," he said with a shake of his head.

"That might be true, but the chief bought four tickets for him. He took the first flight out of Kyoto," Estrella said from the door again. "He has three people with him, used all the tickets."

Ryuken looked to have paled a bit. "So…" Shunsui said, leaning back. "Unless you want us to 'arrange' for Dr. Kurosaki and you to spend some time alone in a holding cell…I mean, where else would we put him if he does something illegal once he gets here. So I suggest you explain to us now why you would do something to your own nephew, or we can let you tell your brother in law yourself."

"He's not my brother in law. He is the person that stole the only woman I ever loved from me. I married her half-sister, but in some ways it was worse to see them so fucking happy together," Ryuken said, mouth set in a thin line. "I hate him more than words can ever express."

Uryuu stared open mouthed through the window. So that was the reason. "I never knew," he whispered to Kira. "I knew he was close to Aunt Masaki. I had no idea he'd always been in love with her."

"I was in trouble," Ryuken said. "Five years ago, I was in some shit. Had a huge gambling debt owed to Barragan, which I'm sure you already know is mobbed up. We busted that student run prostitution ring and over poker Barragan said that he sure wished someone would run a kid ring like that he could get access to. That's how I got the idea. I started putting together things, and then I had the first kid with a drug charge. He was a Japanese exchange student, so I asked him what he was willing to do to make it go away so he didn't have be expelled and sent back to Japan. I was raised there. I knew exactly how the kid would react. So, I took a picture and told him to come back that weekend. I had five people come the first time. It was a success and it wasn't long before I had another student that was Asian and had messed up enough to be expelled. I mean, I could have used the American students, but I knew the Asian kids were at risk of not only being expelled but being sent all the way home. It wasn't like they could just go down to the local community college and finish up."

Ryuken shrugged. "Then I got an email from Isshin one day just saying hi and seeing how Uryuu and I were doing. I asked about Ichigo, and he said that he wanted to be a doctor but it might be hard considering their finances and having two other kids. He sent me a family photo and I knew then that I could make enough money off him within a few weeks time to get out of the country and away from my debts. The others just weren't fast enough, once a month wasn't getting me out of the country. It was keeping them from killing me, I guess, or taking Uryuu in some stupid attempt to use him as leverage. Not that I'd have cared what happened to him."

Kira glanced at Uryuu who was grinding his teeth. "You son of a bitch," Uryuu muttered.

"So I made the offer when I found out he'd be out of high school this year. It was easy enough, I have the money, the space, and I manipulated the scholarship contest so he won. Granted, I think he would have won anyway. I hate to admit it, but he's smart. It was an opportunity. I could easily manipulate him into going the first time, and then when Aizen presented the chance to beat him into submission, I took it. I knew it would work. He already flinched if I made a sudden move toward him. He was perfect. And I got to get my revenge on his father. I could see nothing wrong with this plan," he said, shrugging and looking uninterested.

"Except you didn't count on people noticing," Zaraki said.

"I thought over the long time it was, the chances were rather slim to get noticed. I suppose Ichigo was too fragile in the end to cope with the situation," he said with a shrug.

"Too fragile?" Shunsui said with a shake of his head. "Out of all the kids you did this to, only one went on to graduate, three are still here in school, and two went to other schools. The rest dropped out, were arrested, or went back home to their countries. Two of the girls even ended up pregnant."

Ryuken shrugged. "They knew the risks. If they hadn't gotten in trouble to begin with, I wouldn't have been able to use them."

Estrella snorted. "You can't use that excuse for your nephew."

"He existed, that's enough," Ryuken growled.

Shunsui sighed. "You hated his father but you loved his mother. How in the world could you hurt _her_ child like that if you loved her so much? You know, he isn't just Dr. Kurosaki's child. He belongs to the woman you claim to have loved so dearly. What would she think, Ishida? If she were to find out how you used her only son?"

Ryuken shook his head and looked away. "Doesn't matter. The bastard son of Isshin Kurosaki is no concern of mine. He's broken, more than ever before, and he'll never stand on his own again. I expect him to be in a psych ward by the end of the month," he said, turning with a wide grin.

"Not if Kira has anything to do with it," Estrella commented, glancing at the mirror.

Ryuken smiled at the mirror. "Oh, the little fuck who ruined everything. Please, Izuru, enjoy your time with him. And when he lets you fuck him, remember to thank me for turning him into such a little slut for you. I bet he'll beg you to fuck him and beat him. Aizen said he was a wonderful cocksucker by the end of their time together."

Kira's hands were clenched so tight that blood was dripping on the floor. He felt Uryuu put his arm around him. "Don't let him get to you, Izuru. Please. I'm dealing with a lot now, and I just found out my best friend was one of his victims and he never told me. And I…I don't think I deserve to help Ichigo, so I need you to do it."

Hospital

11:00 am

The world swam into existence slowly. Ichigo was only half aware of what was happening around him. He tried to move his hands but found them restrained. He sighed, not really bothered by that fact. He usually couldn't move his arms, so it was actually comfortable in a way.

"Ichigo?" came a voice and he opened his eyes to see Uryuu sitting beside him. He frowned and blinked slowly, glancing to the other side to see Kira was sitting there.

"Hm," he muttered and sighed deeply. He was actually quite comfortable.

"I…I wanted to apologize. For my father, obviously, and for myself. I should have done something sooner, and I can't express how sorry I am…" Uryuu said, staring at his hands as he spoke.

Kira was waiting for Hisagi to come pick him and Ichigo up. They'd agreed to take him to the small house they shared off campus. There was also an extra room that Ichigo's dad and sisters could stay in while they were there if they wanted to. Imelda had warned Kira that it would be best if he wasn't left to sleep alone at night, and sharing a bed with Kira would help him a lot more than being forced to sleep alone.

Ichigo shook his head and kept his eyes closed. He really couldn't handle Uryuu blaming himself right now. His head was a mess, and he wasn't sure who was at fault for his current state. Was it Ryuken? Or had he brought it on himself? He wasn't sure, and he didn't like it. He felt Uryuu reach for the restraint, though and his eyes flew open.

"No, leave it," he said franticly. Uryuu started and stared. Ichigo shook his head again. "Just, leave it, Uryuu, okay?"

Kira reached forward and put a hand on his other hand. "What is it that you want? The cuff or being restrained like this?"

Imelda had given him a few tips for today, but in the morning he was meeting her for a lot more intensive bit of instruction with another young Dom she was teaching. One of the things she had said was to find Ichigo's comfort thresholds. Sometimes restraints became symbols as well as physical objects, symbolically holding back fears, emotions, and pain. What was important wasn't the actual restraint, but the symbol that it represented in Ichigo's mind.

Ichigo looked at him and then away. He exuded the same feeling Master Black and Mistress Cybelle did, but it was quieter and felt more comfortable than either of them. "Ichigo, you can look me in the eye," he said quietly. "I won't punish you."

Ichigo swallowed and looked back up at him, his eyes slightly wide and dilated. Izuru smiled at him and brushed a hand over his head and snickered when he almost purred at it. Uryuu looked over at him with a completely perplexed look on his face.

"That's it," Kira said. "Now what is it you want? We're going to talk more tomorrow, but today I want you to be comfortable. Tell me what makes you feel comfortable right now, and it will be okay if you change your mind about it later."

Ichigo's brow crinkled and he thought about it. The cuffs were comfortable, familiar, on his wrists. So was being unable to move them. He didn't have to wonder where to put his hands, and he didn't have to wonder if he was right or wrong when he couldn't move them.

"I…need both," he said, looking at Kira with a confused look. Kira nodded.

"Okay, I have a couple things I brought that Mistress Cybelle gave me. She thought that might be the case today, so I brought this," he said, and reached into a bag beside him and pulled out a set of leather wrist cuffs with simple buckles on them. They were plain and obviously not made for him, but they would work for now. "Can I undo these if I put these on you?" he asked, tapping the restraints on the bed. Ichigo swallowed and nodded.

Kira carefully unhooked his wrists and noticed he didn't move them as he did it. He gently placed the leather cuffs on him, checking to make sure he could put two fingers between his wrist and the soft padded leather. He moved to the other side and repeated it on the other one. Ichigo still looked off, though.

"I don't have anything else, but I thought this would get us to my house," he said with a soft smile.

He looked up and blinked. "Your house?"

"If you want, of course," Kira said with a smile at him. "I mean, I didn't think you'd want to be alone. If you do, I can take you to Ryuken's house."

Ichigo shook his head. "Where's Ryuken?"

Uryuu swallowed. "Ichigo, remember, they arrested him?"

Ichigo's brow furrowed. "What for?"

Kira and Uryuu exchanged a glance. The psychiatrist had warned them about this; he was going to think the fault was on him and not on Ryuken and Aizen. "He's being charged for the prostitution ring he was running, and for forcing you into doing what you did."

Ichigo shook his head. "But I agreed to it. It's not his fault, I agreed…"

Kira put a hand on his shoulder, Ichigo's head snapping around to him immediately. "Ichigo, you didn't really agree to anything. He forced you into it. He manipulated and controlled you, and then he used Aizen to force you into submission. He lied to Aizen. He told him that you wanted to be involved in a rape fantasy. He told him you wanted to be treated like slave. He was wrong. You didn't want that."

Ichigo started to say something and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to argue with Kira, it was obvious he belonged to him now. He'd taken him from Aizen, right? He was so confused.

"Ichigo, please, don't hide your thoughts from me," Kira said, squeezing his shoulder gently. "I fell head over heels in love with you, you know. First day I saw you at the orientation, I was done for. I wanted to ask you out but I didn't know if you were gay or straight, and you were just so damn cute…and you still are. All I want to do is help you, and if you'll have me, I'll take care of you the way Aizen didn't."

Ichigo opened his eyes and looked at him. "You'll…you'll be my master?" he said quietly. Kira saw Uryuu's face twist in disgust and looked across at him and shook his head at him.

"I don't like that name, but I will take care of you," he said softly. "You won't be my slave. I won't have that. I want to love and care for you where he didn't. I want to help you through this and do whatever is necessary to make you feel comfortable and safe and happy. I want you to me my…Ichi-ai." Kira knew it wasn't a real word. It wasn't even a Japanese honorific. He thought, though, he wanted to do something different and combining the first of Ichigo's name with the Japense _ai _which was translated as love, would work well.

Ichigo's heart thumped hard in his chest. Was he offering to take care of him because he felt like he had to? Because he'd saved him? Or was he doing it because he wanted to? He was so confused by all this. It had been so much simpler to just be told what to do. He swallowed.

"I don't know what will make me safe and happy and all that. I don't know what I want. Can…can you tell me what that is?" he said quietly, looking up at him with his eyes wide.

Kira smiled. "I can't. I know that you want me to tell you, but I can't do that. You have to decide. Even if that choice is to walk away and forget all this happened, I won't stop you, Ichigo. I know that you feel like you want to do whatever it takes to please me, but that's not what I want. I want to please _you_ and make _you_ happy. So whatever you choose, that's where we'll go."

Ichigo crossed his hands over his body and picked at the edges of the cuffs. It had become a nervous habit he started the first day he'd had cuffs on him. Master Black had repeatedly whipped his hands for doing it, but it didn't seem to go away.

"I…I feel like…if you make me go away…I'll just crawl out of my skin and the thought of being alone…I can't breathe right," he said softly, fingers playing with the edges of the cuffs. "I don't want to be alone, but I…I don't know what I want…and I can't…I can't put it together. I did it because I agreed to it but I didn't really, and I can't understand why I can't separate the two ideas…" he said with a sigh. "C-can I stay with you for a while?"

Kira nodded. "You can, you can stay as long as you want, and I will help you as much as I can. Your family will be here tonight, but I will leave it up to you if you wish to see them tonight or wait until tomorrow…"

Ichigo shook his head. "Not tonight, I can't…not yet."

Kira nodded. "That's fine," he said with a smile. "Uryuu, will you meet them and take them to the police station when they get here?"

Uryuu nodded and stood. "I'll see you later, Ichigo, okay?"

Ichigo nodded but kept his eyes down and away. He couldn't really face Uryuu right now. Uryuu's father was in jail because of him. That thought was loud and reverberating through his skull. If it weren't for _him_ Uryuu's dad wouldn't be in jail. He focused on the edges of the cuffs, and he felt Kira's presence beside him. It was comforting, just him being there. He felt like if he left he'd just explode and he was so full of something he couldn't name.

A nurse came in a few moments later and started the discharge process. She asked about the leather cuffs he was wearing and Kira told her to see Dr. Kerry if she needed information about that. The nurse seemed slightly annoyed but left. When she came back she didn't comment on it again, and also didn't comment on how Kira seemed to be instructing her patient on everything. She shook her head. What a strange situation, she thought as she wheeled the boy out in the wheelchair. He was wearing a pair of the disposable scrubs, because from what she saw, he'd come in mostly naked.

Hisagi was waiting outside with his car, a nice, sensible Dodge Caliber, a hatchback with a decent backseat. Kira helped Ichigo get situated in the back, and sat down in the passenger. Hisagi glanced at him in the mirror and at Kira who just nodded to him.

"So, Ichi, you want to stop for drive through?" Hisagi asked.

Ichigo looked up and blinked. "I…I'm not sure…" he said, glancing over at Kira.

"Ichigo, I'm not going to tell you if you're hungry," Kira said. "If you want something, please tell me," he said softly.

Ichigo bit down on his lip and nodded. "Whatever you guys want, I…I haven't had much outside the school's food court, I don't know the places to eat."

Kira smiled. It was more than he expected at this point. "Okay, burger okay then?"

Ichigo nodded, but Kira had a feeling he would have nodded at anything at that point. At least he'd voiced something of his opinion. He was just extremely glad he'd only spent five days with Aizen instead of more. While the damage was still there, at least it wasn't as extensive as it would have been after months with the man. However, Imelda had warned him that he would still be coming down, and he might hit a depression and very low spot in the next few hours or next few days.

After they'd picked up food, they headed to Hisagi and Kira's house. It was an old house, two stories with four bedrooms, a big attic and finished basement level. Kira's dad had arranged for them to rent it from a family friend, so they'd gotten quite a deal on it. It was also in a pretty nice area that was close to the school. They went in and Kira led Ichigo into the living room and turned on their TV. They passed out the food and ate in silence. Ichigo though looked uncomfortable where he was, though, and seemed to be more anxious than before.

"Ichigo, do you need something?" Kira asked softly.

Ichigo looked up at him and nodded, his orange brows knitting together in a scowl.

"Come here, then," he said, holding out his arm. Imelda's warning that he would need to be held and touched came back. He was starting to come "down" or "drop" as she'd called it. She'd said that once it began it might take ten minutes, or it could take a whole week. The best that Kira could do was be there for him through it all.

Ichigo came to him and buried his head into his shoulder and Kira could feel his heart beating rabbit fast under his hands. He stroked his back and put his arm around him, pulling him in tightly to him as his breathing became faster. Hisagi watched silently, attempting to try to look like he wasn't watching, but he was. Kira held him as his body began to tremble again.

"Shh," he whispered, running his other hand over his head. "Shh, Ichi-ai, you're safe with me," he said softly, and immediately, the trembling started to subside. "Safe and warm and loved, that's what you need, right? Now, I've got you, and you don't have to worry," he said, and thought to himself he almost felt like he was comforting a child. He smiled to himself. Here he had looked at Imelda like she had two heads when she told him that there might be a chance he needed a "daddy" figure instead of a "master". The whole concept was strange to him, even more than the master/slave idea. Kira sighed and continued the ministrations. He'd be whatever he needed to be.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

_St. Louis Police Department_

_1:00 pm_

Estrella put her head down on her desk and sighed deeply. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her boss, Harribel.

"Hey Captain," she said with a sigh.

"How's the report coming on this one?" she asked, sipping her coffee. The woman drank coffee at all hours of the day.

Estrella shook her head. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything. I'm just…damn."

"Take off to lunch, Grimm's out in the bullpen and said he'd treat you if I'd let you go," she said, patting the younger woman's back.

Estrella nodded. "Lunch sounds good before I finish this report. I swear…I've never done a report like this before."

"Let's hope you never have to again," Harribel said, walking toward the back again.

Estrella grabbed her coat and headed toward the door, waving at a couple people as she left. She saw Grimm chatting up some blonde chick from the mail room.

"Grimm, baby, she don't need your kind of loving," she said, smacking his ass as she passed.

Grimm snorted and sighed as the girl gave them a strange look. "Dammit, woman, I was gonna score," he said, jogging to catch up with her.

"Nah, she's a notorious flirt, and she doesn't date anyone at the precinct," she said with a smirk as they hopped into her small Corolla. Grimm grunted and complained every time about the car being too damn small. She always smirked.

They headed out to the nearest sub joint, somewhat healthy; she supposed and set up shop in the corner. They were regulars, so no one really bothered them, and then again, who'd screw with Grimm? They ordered and she slumped in the booth.

"Fuck," she groaned as she sipped her drink. "I'm so dead. How are your reports coming?"

"Slowly," Grimm said, sipping his coke. "It's a lot of shit to wade through. Man, this is all fucked up. I've never worked a case where the reports have to be completely error free. I mean, when we're nailing our own to the wall, granted you're IA you're used to this…"

Estrella arched a brow. "Fuck, you think it's easy just because I work IA and we've done it before?"

Grimm shrugged. "Point, point. This whole thing is fucked up, girl. I swear to fuck. This is some messed up shit. If that kid were related to me, I don't think I could rest until that fucker Ryuken Ishida is dead."

"If someone in Mom's family had pulled a stunt like that, well let's just say the police would be finding a few dead bodies instead of making arrests..." she muttered.

Grimm shook his head. "_Cubanos…_" he said with a smirk. Estrella rolled her eyes as the server set their food down and asked if they needed anything else, which they didn't.

They ate for a few minutes in silence, because they were honestly both starving. After a moment, Grimm wiped his mouth and put down the sub sandwich he was eating.

"So, speaking of family," Grimm said. "What's your family like, anyway? And what do they think of your line of work?"

"Well, let's see my mom is Cuban, and stayed home to take care of me and my brother Romero. She's got some nasty asthma so she stays in most of the time. Pop's a American boy, was a soldier for a while, and then when he got back he became an electrician, trade he learned in the army. My brother is an amazing cook, though. However, Pop taught him a bit about home and yard stuff so he can take care of himself when he moves out," she said, stirring her tea with a smile.

"That's cook, your brother here?" he asked, eating as he listened to her talk.

She shook her head. "Nah, back in Miami, cooking school, told you he was a good cook. Anyway, he was good enough to get a scholarship and is going for free. Mom and dad are proud of him, and so am I."

Grimm nodded. "Yeah, don't have much family, m'self," he said with a sigh, putting down his napkin. "Parents died when I was little, spent my life at a German foster home until I was adopted by some idiotic American with a fetish for foreign kids. Less than two years later, she lost me due to getting caught with drugs, and I was in the American foster system. Spent the rest of my days there, causing trouble mostly," he said, drinking his coke with a big grin. "Let's just say it is a damn good thing that they seal juvenile records."

She smiled. "Close to anyone?"

"Well, I didn't know until yesterday, but the closest thing I have to a sister, a little girl named Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck that the stupid American broad took in with me. She's actually in college here at UMSL for a degree in forensics. I tried to dissuade her with everything I had to stay out of law enforcement, but she's got a hell of a stubborn streak," he said, shaking his head.

She shook her own head. "Well, that's someone. You spend much time with her?"

"Not as much as I'd like. You know how the job is," he said with a shrug, looking around. He glanced up to the news, weather. "Got anything coming up with the family exciting?" he asked.

"Well, the holidays coming up, Romero is coming up to visit. We're going to try the whole roasted pig. One of those weird Cuban traditions," she said with a smile.

Grimm nodded, sighing, glancing toward he news and freezing. "A fuck me running," he muttered, his face falling.

"What?" Estrella said, craning her neck to see the TV. "You have got to be fucking shitting me…" she muttered. "Who the fuck…" she said, standing and walking toward the TV, followed by Grimm, who reached over her and turned up the volume.

"…sources close to the police department say that the sting operation was completed in the early morning hours. The resultant arrests have been unfathomable. The deputy mayor, Sōsuke Aizen has been taken into custody and his lawyer refused to comment when we contacted his house this morning. Sources also say that there were at least twenty victims of this horrific forced prostitution ring run by Doctor Ryuken Ishida, the dean of Business at UMSL, as well as the head of the disciplinary committee. Sources at the school have declined to comment at this time. Thus far, our source has only identified one of the victims with certainty, local UMSL student Ichigo Kurosaki, a foreign exchange student and nephew to Dr. Ishida. We attempted to contact Dr. Ishida's son, also a student at UMSL, but he is currently unreachable."

Estrella looked at Grimm. "Who the flying fuck leaked this much?" she breathed. "There is no way someone in my division did…"

Grimm shook his head. "It could have been one of the ones we haven't arrested yet, attempting to divert attention, or it could have been one of the lawyers of the people we have in custody already. You know how this shit works, girly. They'll definitely be out to stir the pot and discredit anyone who is supposed to testify. This is only the beginning, and you know that," he said with a sigh.

"…charges range from rape, prostitution, abuse, assault and battery, drug distribution…"

Grimm rubbed a hand over his blue hair and groaned. "This gets better and better," he said.

"Sōsuke Aizen is charged specifically with charges of rape and false imprisonment against one Ichigo Kurosaki. It is unknown if there are similar charges waiting for the other twenty or so alleged victims, or if Aizen specifically targeted this one victim…"

Estrella growled loud enough to gain attention. "What the fuck!" she said, storming out to her car.

Grimm paid and followed her to find her leaning against the car with a face of barely contained rage. "I can't believe this shit! Not even twenty four hours! I'm going to skin someone alive!"

Grimm was trying hard not to laugh and not succeeding.


	7. Symbols and Reality

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

_Symbols and Reality_

* * *

_Sunday, September 22, 2014 _

_St. Louis International Airport_

_6:45 pm_

Isshin didn't speak much on the plane. The girls were nervous, of course. They really had no idea what had happened, just that their brother had been hurt and somehow they were being flown into the place he was living so that they could see to him. They knew there was something really wrong, though. Isshin hadn't smiled or joked since he'd gotten off the phone. That in itself was proof that something serious had happened to their brother. Yuzu thought he had gotten sick. Karin knew better. There was something about the way their father sat, a coldness that she honestly didn't recognize in his eyes.

There was something very wrong with that.

There had been four tickets at the booth so Isshin had asked the girls' godmother to come along. Rangiku Matsumoto had gone to school with them, and had been Masaki's best friend growing up. Ever since she had been killed, Rangiku had made sure to help out as often as she could. Even she, though, was quiet. Karin knew that for the boisterous woman to barely speak there was a lot more wrong then they originally thought.

The plane landed and they were supposed to meet their cousin Uryuu. They didn't expect to see Uryuu waiting with a blond boy who looked jittery. He had longish blond hair hanging into his eyes and both girls easily detected the gentle almond shaping of his eyes, indicating that he was Asian in origin. He stood somewhat stiffly, hands tucked at the base of his spine and wore a nice set of slacks with a button up white shirt. He looked harried, to be honest. His eyes were lined with dark circles, and to be honest so were Uryuu's eyes. Karin and Yuzu both saw that Uryuu was not looking well at all. Isshin didn't speak and walked to them, not even pausing for the girls to catch up. They both hurried along beside Rangiku as they came toward the pair.

"Uncle Isshin," Uryuu said, bowing to him as soon as he was near. "Welcome, I…"

"We're going to police station," he said in Japanese to Uryuu. "We can talk there," without even stopping.

"_Gomen_," Uryuu said and led them out.

Kira wasn't sure what to do or say, so he offered to take some luggage and helped load them into the taxi and then slid into the front seat by the driver. The rest loaded in and Kira told the driver where to go. When they arrived he handed him the voucher from the police and helped unload. Thankfully, they had packed light. Kira showed them to put their luggage in a side room and then led everyone toward the conference room where they were meeting with Shunsui, Zaraki, Grimm and Estrella. All were looking tired. No one had gone home for more than a couple hours since the day before trying to get everything together.

"Welcome," Shunsui said standing and bowing at him. "I fear my Japanese is rusty, but I understand that will not be a problem."

Isshin shook his head and sat down. "Not at all," he said in unaccented English.

Estrella smiled at the two girls. "Would you two like to get something from the snack machine? My treat!" she said with a smile. Both girls looked toward their father who nodded to them. They left with her and the door shut.

"First, Dr. Kurosaki, I'm Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, head of the vice division. This is Captain Ken Zaraki, head of Homicide, and his lieutenant Grimm Jaeger. The young lady that left is with IA, Estrella," he said, sitting down again.

Isshin looked over at Grimm and nodded. "We spoke on the phone."

Grimm nodded. Isshin motioned to the lady to his right. "This is a dear friend, and the kids' godmother, Rangiku Matsumoto. I decided to bring her to help the girls handle the situation."

Shunsui nodded and slid a file over to him. "I won't beat around the bush. Here's the medical file. I know you don't need me to interpret it."

Isshin nodded, having a lot of respect for that fact. He was not a frantic, hysterical parent. He thumbed through the photos and the details of the exams. Honestly, he had hoped that he'd never have to see such examination details on his own son. He nodded and handed it to Rangiku.

"Rangiku is a nurse at my clinic part time," he explained and sighed. "It seems his recovery projection is physically good. What about his psychological state?"

"That is mainly what this meeting is for," Shunsui said, and motioned for Kira to move from where he was standing nearly hidden. "This young man is perhaps responsible for helping us both bust the entire ring and getting your son out of there before permanent damage was done."

Isshin looked at him closely. Kira bowed and spoke in Japanese, "I am honored to meet you, sir. My name is Izuru Kira."

"You speak fluent Japanese," Isshin responded in kind.

"_Hai. _My father is Japanese, my mother American. I was raised speaking both languages. My father is a surgeon and my intention is to go to school to become one as well," he said, bowing his head just slightly.

Isshin nodded and returned to English. "If you are a student, how did you come about being the unlikely savior?"

Kira swallowed and cut his eyes at Shunsui who nodded encouragingly. "Kurosaki-sama, I met your son this summer…and to be honest found myself interested in him. I am uncommonly shy, and though Hisagi-chan, my friend and roommate, tries to help me, I have difficulty approaching people I…ah…like. He was placed in our advanced Chemistry class, though, and we were put on a group project together by Urahara-sensei. I know Ishida-san somewhat from classes, but did not connect him to Ichigo-kun." He winced. He hadn't meant to call him that, and he saw the arch of the eyebrow that the elder Kurosaki gave him. "I realized that something was wrong, and when he continued to become more and more…off… So I followed him after class earlier this week. I witnessed Ishida-sensei being rough with him and he appeared scared. The next day I told Urahara-sensei what I had seen when Ichigo was absent, and he brought me into the operation that they had been planning. It was my choice, and Hisagi-chan helped with it as well. I was a plant into the ring, having Ishida-sensei recruit me to cover up a drug charge Kyōraku-taichou arranged for me."

Kira paused, taking a deep breath. "Hisagi-chan helped Urahara-sensei gain entrance into the party from the outside as well. Jaeger-san, Estrella-chan, and Zaraki-taichou were going to all be inside the party as well to ensure our safety while Ishida-san waited in the van with Ukitake-sensei and Kyōraku-taichou. I was taken and put in a room and left for several hours until Ishida-sensei came back and informed me I was…uh…" Kira paused and looked at Shunsui.

"Just tell him what he told you, Kira, just like when we took your statement," he said with a nod. "Unless you want me to continue from here."

Kira shook his head. "No, this is my part in this; I will tell Kurosaki-sama what happened."

"Ishida-sensei informed me I was to be a party slut, and do whatever I was told or I would be expelled from school for the drug charges. I knew that Ichigo-kun would be there, so I had to do whatever was necessary, even if it meant I had to deal with those consequences," he said with a determined shake of his head. "I was unprepared for his state and what had been done to him. When it was time to commence the arrests, I went to him, and he seemed most comfortable with me because of what had happened. I…I…he is at my house, now, with Hisagi-chan. He was having a difficult time dealing with people when I wasn't with him. I have chosen to do whatever is necessary to help Ichigo-kun. For that reason, I am working with Imelda Escher to find out what is the best way to get him through the conditioning and training he was put through at Sōsuke Aizen's hands."

Isshin had listened to everything Kira had to say without speaking and now he nodded. "I see," he said, flipping through the evaluations in the file. "It says that he is avoidant and suffering from severe anxiety. Are you able to handle such things?" he asked without looking up.

"I find that closeness to him seems to calm him at this point. He…he also is more comfortable with cuffs on and has requested I…use a collar but I do not wish to do so yet. Aizen used leashes to lead him everywhere that he was taken while with him. I…will not. Mistress Cybelle, ah, I mean Imelda, is helping me with that. She has told me that he has equated things like the bindings to symbols for binding his pain and anxiety, so he still needs the comfort of them…" Kira said, looking nervously over at the two captains.

Isshin nodded again, glancing over the report that the woman named Imelda Escher had written. He looked up at Shunsui. "This Escher is trustworthy?"

Shunsui smiled. "Mistress Cybelle is a prominent member of our community and a notable Domme in the local bondage scene. Sōsuke Aizen, or Master Black as he was in the bondage community, was also well respected but his way of doing things could not be more opposite of Ms. Escher. She has helped us with several investigations that have included members of the community. Master Black was known for slave training, and specialized in humiliation and degradation of his subs, which he was often sought out for. Ms. Escher, on the other hand is a nurturer and trains young men and women like Kira here in the lifestyle appropriately. She specializes in more nurturing and care giving aspects of domination, and less on the abuse. Those that seek her counsel tend to be like Kira, interested in the nurturing aspect."

"Would it not be better for me to take him home?" Isshin asked, looking over the papers.

Shunsui sighed. "I wish I could say yes, but it may not be helpful to him at this point. I do believe he still hasn't suffered the drop in his emotional state that we are expecting. For this reason, I have to agree with Ms. Escher's course of action to allow him to remain with Kira and slowly get him used to being treated without the methods that Aizen used on him. In the end, however, he must decide for himself. Unfortunately, I am unsure that his mental state allows such a thing. He is vulnerable to doing whatever he is told by someone who takes control of the situation, no matter his own desires."

Isshin nodded. "Has he made any progress toward admitting that the acts were non-consensual?" he asked, glancing at Kira.

Kira shook his head. "He…he still believes he agreed to everything. Ishida-sensei…he threatened harm to his sisters, and it seemed enough to force him to do whatever he desired."

Isshin allowed himself a small smile. "That's my boy, alright. This doesn't talk about the condition of his knee?"

"He's had a brace fitted for now. Aizen was actually more careful with that aspect than I expected," Shunsui said with a small smile.

Isshin looked at Kira again. "Tell me what you intend," he said with a long look at him.

Kira nodded. "Kurosaki-sama, I only want what Ichi-kun wants. I want…to make him happy, and it doesn't matter to me what exactly it is that he needs. If I have to learn how to bind him to make him less anxious and happy, I will do so. If he will have me as his friend, his lover, or anything, I will accept it. If I have to let him return to Japan to be with his family, that is what I will do. I am an unusual person, and it is quite selfish of me that I find myself happy to be in such a position to care for him, and to be honest, if he were to return to Japan, I would offer to return with him. It would indeed leave me saddened for a long time if he chooses to leave without me, but it is his choice to make. For now, I wish to help him transition to the point that he can be trusted to make his own choices, and be sure that he is not only answering to the conditioning that Aizen put him through."

Isshin nodded, satisfied by his answer. "May we see him tonight?"

Kira looked a little nervous. "I…uh…asked him earlier and he said he did not feel like he could see you today. He is in a rather…delicate space. Tomorrow would be better, I feel."

Isshin nodded. "Very well." He turned to Shunsui. "I take it there is someone to take us to a hotel then?"

Grimm stood up just as Estrella came back in with the two girls chatting away about movies, music and fashion. "We'll take one of the vans to one close to where Kira lives."

Isshin nodded and bowed to each of them in turn. The entire time, though, Uryuu couldn't look at him. He couldn't do that. When he went home, he would have to talk to Renji, and he wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to say now that he knew.

-O-

While their father was talking with the police, Karin and Yuzu followed Estrella out to the vending machines where she let them each choose a soda, and headed toward the couches in the waiting area nearby. She smiled as she flopped down across from them. They both looked unsure and nervous.

"You girls both speak English?" she asked.

The dark haired of the pair nodded. "Not as well as Ichigo or Pop, but we do," she said in surprisingly good English. "But I'm Karin, and this is my twin, Yuzu."

Yuzu leaned over and picked up a housekeeping magazine and smiled, turning to chatter in Japanese to her sister who rolled her eyes and pushed it away. Estrella smiled. "Not your style?"

"Yuzu likes girly stuff. I'm more into the sports stuff, like this," she said, leaning over and picking up a magazine on soccer. "I'd much rather toss a ball around.

Estrella smiled. Karin reminded her of herself. "Yeah, I'm into sports. I do triathlons myself," she said nodding as she watched Yuzu gush randomly in Japanese at the things in the magazine. "Do a bit of rock climbing, too."

Karin looked up. "Awesome. I've never been but I want to climb Mount Fuji one day, and Mount Everest, and who knows. Pop says to aim high, so I'm aiming high as I can climb. I also want to play in the Olympics for the soccer team, or maybe baskeball…or maybe… I don't know. I like all kinds of sports. If I'm not sweating, I'm not happy."

"Gross!" Yuzu said. "Sweat is nasty," she commented. "I'd rather sew or cook something nice for my husband."

"Husband," Karin said with an expressive eye roll. "I'll die before I get saddled with a man," she said, slapping the magazine done.

Yuzu cut her eyes up at her. "You like Jinta," she said slyly.

"Jinta likes _you_, Yuzu, not me. Jinta's my friend, not my _boy_friend. I'm not even sure I'm into boys," she said, brushing her hair back. "If Ichi-nii can be gay, no reason I couldn't find myself a nice woman instead of a stupid boy," she said with a huff.

Yuzu rolled her eyes. "Well, if you do, find one that likes to go shopping so we can shop together," she said, seemingly not bothered by the possibility of her sister being into girls. "Since Ichi-nii left, I don't have someone to shop with."

Estrella smirked. "Yuzu, you remind me of my brother, Romero. He likes to cook, he's going to be a chef actually."

"Does he like boys?" she said with a smile.

Estrella smirked. "Now that I don't know, but if he did, that'd be okay, and I'd love him no matter who he liked, as long as he was happy."

"That's good, because not everyone is okay with that. I got beat up at school because someone was making fun of Onii-chan. I said something and well, there were three other girls, and I was alone," Yuzu said with a sigh.

"Yeah, but they regretted ever saying a damn thing about our brother or tried to lay a hand on you after I got done with them," Karin said with a huff. She rattled off something in Japanese that made Yuzu slap her arm.

"That's not nice!" she said.

"Yuzu, no one here speaks Japanese, they're not going to know what I said," Karin said, finishing her soda. She looked about. "I'm hungry, got any food?"

Estrella nodded. "Come on, pick something out of the other machine," she said, letting the girls choose something. It took a lot longer than she expected because neither girl had ever seen half the stuff that was in the machine. In the end, she picked out several things and they sat down and shared them until Grimm stuck his head out to say the meeting was over and they could come back in.

_Uryuu's Apartment_

_8:00 pm_

When Uryuu got to his apartment he saw that the lights were on still. He sighed and guessed that Renji already knew what had happened. He was one of the victims, which meant that he'd been contacted already. They'd said by the end of the day that everyone that had been in those files would have been found and contacted. He had to deal with this tonight before it went any further. He got up the stairs and entered to find that Renji was sitting quietly in the living room with a book on his lap. He looked up as Uryuu entered and smiled.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

Uryuu nodded. "Hey."

Uryuu sat down and stared at his hands for a long moment. Finally Renji closed his book and spoke. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to put it behind me."

"What…what happened?" he asked quietly. He did and didn't want to know about it at the same time. However, he had to know what happened, and why it had never been brought up.

Renji sighed. "You remember that girl I dated Freshmen year?"

Uryuu nodded. "The one with the bleach blonde hair? Sarah, or something?"

"That was her. She was a senior, remember?" Uryuu nodded. Renji sighed and dropped his head back on the couch. "We broke up suddenly, if you remember. Well, the reason is she started telling people I raped her."

"What?" Uryuu asked with wide eyes.

He nodded. "She got me in the bathroom one day, coming onto me hot and heavy, right? I couldn't believe how lucky I was, I mean she was all over me. You know what they say about things being too good to be true. I had her skirt up around her waist sitting on the counter and kissing her to beat the band and then she screams. I looked at her and she just smiles at me and starts yelling for help. A couple of the security officers come in and I'm in deep trouble."

Uryuu frowned at him. "Why did she do that?"

Renji sighed. "Yeah, well, turns out she wasn't all she claimed to be. Before you came around, when I was in middle school, there was this guy that lived near me. We were best friends until he started selling drugs. I couldn't stand by and watch, so I turned him in. He swore that he'd get me back. Sarah was his girlfriend. The whole thing had been an act, and when he found out she was in a class with me, he decided that he was going to get me expelled for good. As you can guess I ended up in you pop's office. He gave me the choice, you've figured it out, I guess. Three parties and it would all go away because it was her word against mine…and you know, despite the fact that she'd done that, I wasn't going to slander her even if it was the truth. What'd I get for being the bigger man, right? End up going through three nights of hell for it."

Uryuu sighed. "Damn, dude. I mean, I can't even imagine, that's some twisted shit for her to accuse you of rape."

Renji shrugged. "Ah, it was a bad situation. Not every girl pulls shit like that, just like every father isn't a giant dick like yours is."

"How'd you come across Professor Ukitake?" Uryuu asked, unable to look at him.

Renji shook his head. "I was in a bad place. I mean, after Sarah…I just couldn't handle it. I'd picked up the clap, of all things," he said with a sigh. "Try explaining that one, right? And it wasn't long after the third one, so I guess it was at that one I got it. I went to Wellness and I flipped the fuck out on the nurse. I mean, shit, I don't even remember what it was, I think he looked like one of the bastards at the party. Well, Dr. Unohana and Dr. Ukitake practically had to peel me off the fucking ceiling. Huh," he huffed. "Yeah, damn….but well, that's what happened."

"But…why didn't you say something?" Uryuu said looking at him finally.

Renji shook his head. "Man, what was I gonna tell you? I got myself in the situation, I should have seen what Sarah was from the start, and then instead of disputing what happened and trying to get myself out of trouble, I took his offer so I didn't get expelled and she didn't get in trouble. I mean, I knew Lucus. And I had a good idea that the whole thing wasn't really her idea. He probably threatened to cut off her coke if she didn't do it. She was high as a kite most the time… And what would you want me to say, hey dude, you're my best buddy but your father is a fucking prick and whored me out to get me out of trouble?"

"I kinda wish you had…" Uryuu said with a sigh."

Renji nodded slowly. "No more than I do. I mean…I was trying so hard to put it behind me and just forget it ever happened…I didn't even think about it again until you said something about your cousin. I mean, if I hadn't been such a coward, and I had done something…I could have stopped it…I could have…"

Uryuu put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't do that, Ren. It…it doesn't help. But you can do something now and make sure he pays for what he's done, to you and everyone else, and to Ichi…you'll do it? You'll testify against him?"

Renji nodded. "You bet your ass, man. He needs to never see the light of day again."

Uryuu nodded to him. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't blame yourself, didn't you just tell me the same thing, baka?" Renji said with a sigh.

He nodded. "But…it's my own father. Who in their right mind is going to believe that I had no idea what he was doing?"

Renji smiled at him and shook his head. "I believe you."

"Yeah, that means a lot," Uryuu said, looking at him with a small smile.

_Kira and Hisagi's House_

_8:10 pm_

Kira had been sitting in the car for a while looking at the house and going over what he'd said to Ichigo's father. He had meant every word of it, too. The question was, did he have the fortitude to do it? He wasn't entirely sure that he could be everything he needed. And what exactly was he going to do if he decided to go back to Japan? Well, there was nothing to do except what he could, so he got out and went into the house. It was dark, but there was a light on in the living room. Curious he went in to find Hisagi sound asleep in their recliner, and Ichigo was curled into his lap just as asleep. He smiled and shook Hisagi by the shoulder.

"Huh?" he muttered sleepily.

"Hey, what's this?" Kira said with a grin. "Tryin' to steal my strawberry?"

Hisagi smiled. "He was really nervous and anxious, and I wasn't sure what else to do. It seemed to calm him down when you did it, so I offered to let him sit with me. Didn't take long for him to relax and fall asleep. My legs are fuckin' numb as shit, though…" he said with a wry grin. "So take this brat to bed with ya so I can feel my feet again."

Kira shook his head and gently shook Ichigo's shoulder. He muttered in his sleep but didn't move otherwise. Kira shook his head and scooped him up instead, finding he barely even moved at that. He must have been really exhausted still. Well, he was still on medication for the anxiety, so he was no doubt still tired from that. He took him and laid him down in the double bed, extracting his limbs from him with some difficulty, and covered him with the blanket while he went to change and settle in on his laptop for a little while before he passed out himself.

He pulled up the news and found that to no big surprise, the story had already broke. The names of the victims, thankfully had been kept out of it, but all those arrested had been named with their charges. Kira hadn't heard the "scoop" that some of the news outlets were running that included names. Respectable papers and shows didn't release that information. However, not all of them were respectable. There was a huge article he found on Aizen, and he had indeed already been dismissed. He sighed after a while and shut it down and slipped into the bed almost forgetting that he wasn't alone. He jumped with he felt a hand brush him and he remembered his bed partner. He turned to see that he was awake and looking at him.

"Oh hey, Ichi-ai," he said with a gentle smile, rolling to his side and looking at him.

Ichigo's eyes were still sleep hazed and he just looked at him for a while. "What do I do?" he finally said.

Kira frowned and shook his head. "Get some sleep, I think. You still look tired."

Ichigo nodded and stared at him. "He didn't let me go to sleep first," he said quietly. "I had to make sure he was asleep," he said quietly. "And he'd only go to sleep after I pleasured him."

Kira nodded. "I know, sweet. I know. I'm not him, though. You sleep if you want to sleep."

He nodded but didn't move, curled on his side and staring at him still. "Do you feel okay?" Kira asked.

Ichigo nodded. "I'm sore," he said quietly. "My jaw still hurts a lot. I didn't like having to wear the gags at all. I don't…I don't like not being able to say anything."

Kira scooted closer and motioned to him. "You want to come over here? I can hold you if you like. Or you can stay there."

Ichigo immediately came over to him and tucked a head into the space under his chin and wrapped both arms around him. Kira smiled. "He didn't let you do this, did he?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I thought…I thought if I just did what he said…if I listened to him…that maybe he'd…he'd be nicer to me…and not hit me…"

"You don't like that, do you? Being hit like that?" Kira asked, running hands over his hair gently.

Ichigo shook his head. "I liked…I liked not having to worry about what to do."

Kira frowned. "What do you mean?"

"My uncle, I never knew from one minute to the next what he wanted. Sometimes he'd get mad at me for something one day, and not the next. I never knew how he'd react. Master Black, I knew. I knew that if I did what he wanted, he'd be nicer. I knew that if I tried to talk, what would happen. I didn't have to wonder, I already knew…"he said slowly.

Kira was happy, ecstatically happy, to be honest. This was the most he'd talked since they'd taken him out. And he was more than talking; he was telling him what he didn't like. On his own.

"I can see how that would be nice for you," Kira said, remembering the way Ryuken had changed easily even in his presence. "You like this, though, it helps?"

Ichigo nodded. "He didn't touch me, not without the whip or the crop or something. And I just wanted to feel something… The cuffs helped, the restraints, they made me calmer. I don't know why. But you help me too."

Kira nodded, pulling him into his body a bit closer. "I have to tell you that I wanted this, this right now, but I wanted it in a different way. I was too scared to say anything, to tell you that I liked you, and I wanted to go on a date with you. I thought…even after we were in class…that you might not like guys…or maybe just not like me…"

Ichigo yawned into his chest. "I liked you," he said. "I thought maybe…you were flirting with me. I wasn't sure…and then I felt like you wouldn't want me after…after all of this… Why would anyone want someone used up and soiled like this?"

"No, don't say that," Kira whispered, his grip tightening. "I may be a coward when it comes to asking people out, but I will protect you from now until the ends of the earth, and that includes protecting you from yourself. So please, don't do that. I'll take you as you are, and I want to help you get through this."

Kira took a breath. "I met your father."

He felt the body in his arms tense. "Oh, hush, silly boy," he said without event thinking with a sigh. "We talked and I told him what I am about to tell you. I didn't help you out of that for you to owe me anything. I did it because I care for you and would like to be here for you. I mean no matter what. If you decide to go home with your family, then that's what will happen. If you want to stay with me, then that will be. You have to choose, though, and no one can tell you what to do anymore."

Kira felt wetness spreading on his shirt and felt him nod. "Thank you," he said softly, and Kira smiled, stroking his back until sleep had claimed them both.

_Monday, September 23, 2014_

_Hotel Bar_

_1:00 am_

Isshin stared at his hands folded on the hotel bar. It wasn't like bars in America served warm sake. He had settled instead for scotch on the rocks. Beside him Rangiku had come, mostly to make sure he actually got to bed than anything else. She sipped a cosmo and chatted up the handsome bartender. Isshin couldn't even focus on anything except what was going on in his own head.

"How'd I mess up so much, Ran?" he asked her when she turned back. "I sent him here, I _told_ him to come here, that it would be good for him."

Rangiku patted his back. "Isshin, honey, don't do that. You had no idea. _I_ had no idea. I grew up with the man, for pity's sake. Me, Masaki, him and Kanae. Who would have guessed the sisters would be gone so early from our lives? No, it isn't our fault. He adored Masaki. I honestly thought he was doing something for her memory. I never would have thought he'd sink so low as to do something to _her _child. Nothing like this…" she said with a deep sigh.

Isshin turned to her with his alcohol clouded eyes. He wasn't quite drunk, but he wasn't sober either. "He loved her didn't he? Tha's what this is all about. He loved her and I married her."

Rangiku nodded. "Yeah, I think so. But Isshin, she never loved him, not like that. She thought of him as a brother. Kanae crushed on Ryuken from the day they met. But Masaki…she only had eyes for you."

"Love makes us do weird things, doesn't it," he said with a heavy sigh, tossing back the rest of his drink and asking for another. "But how could his love become so twisted and perverse?"

Rangiku sighed. "He could do it because it wasn't _him_ doing anything. All he was doing was taking him places, like those kids he blackmailed. He didn't have sex with them. He didn't rape Ichigo. He felt distant and that because he didn't actually do anything it was different. In the end, he was worse than all those others put together."

Isshin nodded. "I shoulda known when he didn't call after that first week. I mean, that was odd for him…"

Rangiku shook her head. "You and the girls both thought he was just wrapped up in school life. I thought the same. He's an eighteen year old boy, in a new country, surrounded by new people, would it be a surprise if he didn't call home to his stuffy old pop and his little sisters?"

"Guess not," Isshin said with a sigh as his phone buzzed. He picked up.

"Hai," he said, switching to Japanese.

"Dr. Kurosaki?" came a familiar voice on the other end.

"Arisawa," he said with a smile. "Hello, how are you?"

"Um, good, but you took off so suddenly, and the note on the clinic says that you're on a family emergency, what happened? Are the girls okay?" she asked, and he heard the worry in her tone.

"Ah, girls are fine. We're in America right now. Just arrived a while ago," he said with a deep sigh.

"America? Did something happen to Ichigo?" she asked, almost frantic. "Is he okay? Did he get hurt?"

"Tatsuki, it…it's a long story, and I'm sort of drunk right now," he said, hiccupping at a strangely appropriate time. "I mean, I'll tell you if you want, but I don't know how it will come out."

Rangiku reached for the phone and he waved her off. "Shh, Rangi, I got it…" he muttered.

"Matsumoto-san is there too?" she asked, shock showing through her voice.

"She came with me, the police they sent me four tickets. Woulda taken you but school and all," he said sipping his drink languidly. Was this his third or his fourth? He didn't remember.

"Police?" she gasped. "What…what happened? Is Ichigo there? Can I talk to him?"

"Nah, he's at his friend Kira's house, he's…he's takin' care of him cuz he's a little messed up in the head right now," he said, punctuating the thought with a hiccup. "He's gonna have to help him cuz I can't. Not a dad's place to do what needs to be done for 'im."

"Kurosaki-san, please, what…what's happened?" she asked, starting to worry a bit.

"Fucking Ryuken Ishida, if I ever get his neck in close range of my hands, he'll be one dead fucker," he said nodding emphatically at his drink. He only ever cursed when he drank, which honestly, he never really did. "Bastard, I…I'm glad he's already in jail…I'd…I'd get put in myself if I could get to 'im. Fucking bastard…"

By now, more than one patron was listening because Isshin had started switching back and forth between English and Japanese. Rangiku wasn't sure if she should take the phone or not, but they were getting attention. "I can't believe my own brother in law, Arisawa, Ichigo's uncle, right? How could…how could anyone sell their own blood?"

"Sell? What…what are you talking about?" Tatsuki said, becoming increasingly alarmed.

"Bastard. Sold him. I dunno what the conversion on a hundred and fifty thousand American dollars, but that's how much he charged the first one!" he said, tears starting to drip down his cheeks as he spoke. "That's what it was worth to him, and then, then he let the others pay for him too! How do you pros…prosti…fuck, how do you whore out your own nephew?" he nearly yelled out the last part in stark English. Tatsuki, like most of their group growing up, spoke English as well as Japanese, though her English wasn't quite as good as Ichigo's.

Isshin dropped his head onto his arms and started to sob in earnest and Rangiku plucked the phone away before it fell off the bar. "Tatsuki-san, dear, look I've got to get Isshin-san into bed, he's had a lot too much to drink."

"Matsumoto-san, what…what is he talking about?" she asked, holding back tears of her own.

"Honey, Ichigo's uncle did something terrible, he…he was running a prostitution ring out of the school, blackmailing students into participating. He forced Ichigo into it and sold him to be 'trained' by a guy in the local bondage scene, and it is pretty bad. Look, I'll email you a link to the article that will hit the local papers tomorrow, alright, dear?" she said.

"Yeah," Tatsuki said woodenly.

Rangiku bid her farewell and pocketed the phone, picking up the sobbing drunkard off the bar and taking him up to his room. As annoying as it was, she was also well aware that sometimes the only time Isshin would let go of his tight hold on his emotions was when influenced by alcohol, which was why he didn't drink. She hefted him into the bed and took off his boots and remembered the last time he'd been drunk had been after Masaki had died. It had been a very similar occurrence to this one.

She laid him on the bed and went to turn the TV that he'd left on and froze, jaw dropping. She slowly turned up the volume enough to hear the words.

"Sources close to the case have revealed that so far several people have been taken into custody on various charges, the most shocking of which is deputy mayor Sōsuke Aizen, who is charged with False Imprisonment, 1st degree rape, and assault and battery of the latest victim of Dr. Ryuken Ishida's forced prostitution ring, a young foreign exchanged student named Ichigo Kurosaki. Sources say that Dr. Ishida preyed on students that were either from Japan on scholarship or other programs that their dismissal would lead them to expulsion. There were several victims who are American citizens, but all shared an Asian heritage, making them susceptible to the influences that Dr. Ishida…"

She turned it off and wiped away tears that were starting to flow down her cheeks. Things were turning bad quickly. She sat down heavily on the bed beside Isshin's feet and wondered exactly what they would do. Ichigo wouldn't be able to step outside without being recognized. The thought was honestly terrifying.


	8. Learning the Ropes

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

_Learning the Ropes_

* * *

_Monday, September 23, 2014_

_Hisagi/Kira's home_

Kira woke up slowly, but it was pleasant. It was warm and he felt good all over for some reason. It took him a few minutes to remember that he had someone else in his bed. He smiled to himself, though, clutching the warm body closer to his chest. It was nice, this waking up with someone near him. He was reminded of the times he'd taken others to bed only to wake up alone. They had been interested in sex and nothing else. That was only one tiny part of what Kira's desire was. This was something that made him happier than all the one night stands in the world, and he hadn't even slept with him, and honestly, it didn't matter if he ever did. This was what Hisagi didn't understand.

Thinking of him seemed to have summoned him because the door opened and Hisagi stood in the doorway staring for a moment, and Kira could tell he thought he was asleep.

"I'm awake, you pervert," Kira said softly.

Hisagi seemed somewhat startled, an odd reaction for him. "Ah, sorry, I just thought you'd want to know it's almost nine. You were meeting that woman at eleven. Didn't know if you wanted to shower and all that," he said with a look that Kira didn't recognize on his face. Was he embarrassed?

Kira looked up. "Shuu, you've been acting weird lately. What's going on? I mean, I know all this is a little…odd, but I figured if anyone rolled with the punches on this it would be you…"

Hisagi looked at him for a long time. "Okay, maybe…just maybe…I kinda liked it last night," he said ducking his head and refusing to look at his roommate.

Kira frowned, pushing himself up on the pillows so he could see his friend better. "Liked what?"

Hisagi blushed, actually blushed, and that was something that Kira had never once seen in his entire life… "Holding him like that while I waited for you, it felt nice to…be needed like that."

Kira smiled. Maybe Hisagi was starting to understand. "Oh?"

He nodded. "I'm not…you know…it isn't anything…not like…" he stammered and Kira saw him fiddling with his hands. "I'm not gay!" he said finally looking up.

Kira smiled. "Oh?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding emphatically. He still looked distracted.

"You know Hisagi, there's more to sexuality than gay and straight. There's this thing called bisexuality…" Kira said, arching a blond brow.

"But I'm not that!" Hisagi said, obviously annoyed. "I don't like guys, none of them, never have gotten a…ah…reaction…before…" He ducked his head again, fiddling with the hem of shirt.

Kira rolled his eyes. Straight guys, for gods' sakes. "Hisagi…maybe you're a bit…heteroflexible."

Hisagi looked up. "What who now?"

"When someone is straight, mostly, like ninety five percent of the time, then every once in a great while, they're attracted to someone of their own sex. Happens," Kira said with a shrug, slowly extracting his limbs from the tangled mess they'd become with Ichigo. He really didn't want to wake him because he was sleeping so peacefully.

Hisagi frowned. "Is that possible?"

"You could be straight and, oh, just Ichi-sexual," he said, grinning as he walked toward the bathroom.

Hisagi watched him go and then sat down on the end of the bed. This was weird. Really weird. Never in his entire life had he felt the slightest bit of attraction to another guy. Girls were the only thing that got his engine revved, and he'd been to more than one gay bar with Kira over the years. He had seen more than he cared to remember in that scene. It never bothered him, but it never did anything for him. He wasn't even into lesbian porn like most the guys he knew. He'd also seen his share of gay porn, and he wasn't ever interested. Granted, he didn't mind anal sex with a girl, so it wasn't a whole hell of a lot different with a guy, he imagined. Still, he'd never even imagined being with a guy. That is, until he had Ichigo curled up asleep in his lap and realized he was having a very inappropriate reaction considering what the boy had been through recently. Thankfully, thinking of some of his older professors naked had cured that little problem.

He heard the shower running and rubbed his forehead. Really, what was he thinking? Kira was interested in him so it didn't matter if he was attracted to him or not. Kira would be dating him, not…wait. He frowned and looked at the doorway. Kira hadn't batted an eye about it and even suggested he might be interested in Ichigo… Now Hisagi was really confused. Did he not care if he was attracted to him? He heard a whine behind him and saw that Ichigo had flipped to his back in his sleep and had a pained expression on his face. He was reaching for Kira, he realized. So, he didn't even think, he shimmied up the bed and was latched onto immediately, both Ichigo's arms going around him and squeezing. Hisagi found himself smiling a little as he stroked his head like he'd done the night before, and he relaxed into him just the same.

Kira came out of the shower and stopped in the doorway and smiled to himself. Hisagi had moved to sit on the bed and let Ichigo wrap his arms around him. It seemed Hisagi was changing a bit of his own ideals when it came to his own sexuality. Considering Kira would have thought he'd never see a straighter man in his life, he was amused by it.

"See, told you that you were stealing my strawberry," Kira said, walking in and grabbing his clothes out of the closet.

Hisagi gasped and moved to get up. Kira put a hand on his shoulder. "No, Shuu, don't get up. He needs someone close to him as much as possible right now."

"Izzy, I don't…I mean, he's your…" Hisagi started, looking up with wide eyes. Kira knew he was bothered now; he never used that nickname anymore, not since they were kids.

"Shuu, he's not 'my' anything," Kira said, putting on a t-shirt. "Look, I want what helps him the most. That means, if he wants to forge an attachment with you as well as me, that's fine. What I'm doing, it isn't about me. It's about him. Take care of him while I meet with Mistress Cybelle. We'll talk more later. See if you can get him to go out with you to eat or something, if he'll get out of the house, if not order in."

Kira went out and got into his car and pulled up the phone with the address that Imelda had texted him with. It was a small bar downtown that had a basement level dungeon. It wasn't a big one, and was mostly for the meeting and greeting sort of thing, but there was a play area. It was a club called Night's Own and was quite a hopping place during the weekends. He'd never been there, but he'd heard of it. He knocked on the back entrance and a very large man with hair half black on one side of his head and half red on the other looked at him.

"Um, Izuru Kira, I'm here for Mistress Cybelle," he said, arching a brow at the big man.

He nodded. "She's expecting you, Master Kira," he said with a nod of his head. Kira blinked and noted the collar and cuffs the man wore. Well, it would seem that he was someone's sub…

He followed the hall down to an open door where he saw Imelda sitting in a sofa with another man who Kira wondered at first if he was her sub. He wore no jewelry, though, no cuffs or collar, but he was extremely delicate looking. He was thin, and rather petite. He was wearing a pair of jeans with a set of leather chaps and a leather trench coat style top on. He had styled dark hair and when he turned to him as he entered, Kira saw he had big hazel eyes and a ready smile.

"Kira," Cybelle said, standing. She herself was dressed rather modestly in a white blouse and a pair of jeans. "I'd like you to meet Narcisse Cyr; he's the other young man I'm working with. He's an aspiring Dom as well, though unlike you, he is not in as much need as you are of immediate training. Narcisse, this is Izuru Kira, the young man I told you about who is taking over Master Black's mistreated sub."

"Izuru," he said, reaching out to shake his hand. Kira smiled, noting the firm grip despite his seeming delicate looks. "Nice to meet you. Mistress Cybelle told me a bit about the situation. Terrible thing…"

Kira nodded. "Yeah, have you been around the scene much?" he asked, wondering just how far ahead of him this other guy was.

He shook his head. "I know that the works of De Sade have little to do with the things are done around here, but not much more than that," he said with a smile. "You may know more than I do!"

Kira shook his head and took a seat adjacent to the couch. "I doubt that, I'm pretty lost as it is."

"Before we get started, I want to tell you a bit about myself. You both are new to this scene, and of course, you'll want to know you can trust me. I hold a degree in psychology and one in human sexuality and counseling. I'm a certified sex therapist. Now, of course, this is my 'day' job, but I'm actually much happier being a professional Domme. I'm a very unusual person, so you will come to find out I have quite a large area of knowledge. My parents were 'unschoolers' so I was raised with very little structured school. However, as I hold degrees, you can tell my intelligence was not harmed by this fact. In fact, it was quite a refreshing way to live. I have one brother, named Maxi. Maxi has high functioning autism, and prefers to communicate without speech, generally he uses assistive speaking devices or uses bird calls, which can make for fun phone conversations. For his way of learning, our life growing up was quite ideal and allowed him to focus on what he loves, ornithology. So much so, he is actually at Cornell University right now," she said, smiling as she looked at them. "As far as my parents, they know what I do now, and they themselves became swingers after I and my brother left home."

"Now, I'm sure you wonder why I'm telling you this, and I'll explain. If we are going to work closely, it is imperative that we know things about each other. Otherwise, this will not work. Now, what I do ask is that you give me a little introduction to yourselves, with as little or as much detail as you would like to share. Remember, the three of us will be working very closely, as the both of you have a very similar idea of what being a Dom looks like," she said with a gentle nod to Kira.

Kira nodded. "Um, okay. I'm a twenty year old student at UMSL, my dad works at St. Luke's, and I'm going to school to be an internal surgeon. My dad is Japanese, immigrated before I was born when he met my mom while she was vacationing in Japan. They got married and came back here. He was already a doctor, so they made a good living. I've never even read about this lifestyle, and my parents never have done anything strange, that I know of, and I really hope I never find out if they did…" Kira said, wondering what else he could say. "I…um…fell in love with Ichigo when I saw him the first time this summer, and I'm really, really shy when it comes to asking people out so I never spoke to him. I regret that now because if I had, maybe I could have helped him sooner."

"Thank you Kira, is that all you wish to say right now?" she asked. Kira nodded. "Okay, now you, Narcisse."

Narcisse smiled. "Well, I'm a twin, my twin brother is named Florin, and we're French, ooh la la, right?" he said winking at Kira who blushed slightly. "Anyway, we have a sister named Cosette, younger. I'm twenty-one, and I recently inherited my family's company, called Cyrtech, and they make bionics and prostetics, so if you lose an arm, I'm your man," he said with a smirk. "Anyway, we were all raised in France, and because our parents owned Cyrtech, we traveled a lot. We were homeschooled, and spent more time outside and in different places than anything else. Really, it was a lot of fun. We played with all manner of kids, and we went to some of what could be described as the worst parts of the world and had a great time meeting people. We learned early on how lucky we were when we saw kids our age who were lucky to get a scrap of food a day. We often did missions to help kids who needed prosthetic limbs. That was always fun. Let's see, I'm twenty-one, like I said, but because we traveled a lot, I became a wine expert, but I never drink to excess. We got to try alcohol as children, so it was never forbidden fruit, you now?" he said, smiling and running a hand over his slightly gel spiked hair. "You Americans are schizophrenic when it comes to alcohol and sex, which amazes me, because it is all over the media, yet you mention it and everyone has a fit. The way we grew up, we were always much more open about sexuality and different aspects of it. But I do love America dearly, and I found out very quickly that 'ugly Americans' are few and far between. As much as stinky Frenchmen!" he said with a grin.

Kira smiled. "Does your brother or sister do this?" he asked.

"Oh goodness, no," Narcisse said with a smile. "Florian is in a very committed relationship with his nurse and girlfriend Jackie. Jackie Tristan is her name, and everyone thinks there's weird stuff going on with them because she carries him around. She's a good sized girl, tall and muscled, you know, but Florian normally has a wheelchair. He had this really bad reaction to some migraine medication a few years ago and now he has all sorts of symptoms that require constant supervision. He has seizures, tremors, and his movement is hindered. He hired Jackie as his nurse, and then they fell in love. She just likes to carry him, to be honest, but when they find out I'm in the scene, they're going to think it even more!" he said with a soft shake of his head. "Now, Cosette, she has a lovely little girlfriend named Lavender. I'm sure you'll meet her and Florian at some point. Cosette's girl, though, she's very quiet, and I love watching people give her weird looks when Cosette speaks for them both. Hilarious. She's just really really shy. Once you get to know her, though, Lavender doesn't shut up."

Imelda smiled. "Thank you so much, Narcisse. Now that we've got to know each other, let's talk a bit about how you both want to learn. There are several ways, and I have an idea that I would like to see if would work. Narcisse, you mentioned you wanted to watch first, then put into action, yes?"

Narcisse nodded. "Yeah, I think I'd be much more comfortable watching someone work and absorbing the information before I actually put it into practice," he said, becoming more serious the instant the conversation turned to the actual reason for being there.

"And Izuru needs to put skills into practice immediately. So my proposition is that Izuru brings Ichigo in, and Narcisse, you may observe as I woke hands on with Izuru and Ichigo. You will not be asked to participate, of course. This way you can see how things are done, and Kira here can learn as he goes," Imelda said, smiling at Kira.

"I don't know anything though," he said, an almost panicked sound to his voice.

"That will be fine, at least you admit to not knowing things. There are some, like Ryuken Ishida, who are pariahs of sorts, walking the edges of the scene without even trying to do things correctly. Master Black of course has been blacklisted. He always trod the edges of the scene, taking things a lot further than many of us are willing to go with our subs. Of course, this came to a head with the way he trained your Ichigo, Kira. He was far too rushed and intense. Has he come down yet?" she asked gently.

"I'm unsure, I mean, he's wanted to be held pretty much non-stop and slept a lot since we got him home. Hisagi, my roommate, has taken to helping with that, and today was questioning his own sexuality since he appears to be somewhat attracted to him as well…" Kira said with a shake of his head.

Imelda smiled. "Sexuality is fluid, my dear, remember that, and it can change over time very easily depending on age, situation, and a lot of things. Now tell me, Kira, you are in the most need of help. Tell me, what is it that you have observed in him?"

Kira nodded. "He likes to be bound. It seems that those things comfort him, the cuffs and collar especially. He was a little upset that I didn't have a collar. I think he equates it to being unwanted now. As you said, the items carry heavy symbolism for him now. He says he liked that he knew what to expect with Master Black, because his uncle was so unpredictable. He knew all the consequences for anything he did. He did not like being gagged, however, and he didn't like the harsh beatings he was given."

Imelda nodded. "As I suspected, he's not into the pain and humiliation aspects, I thought as much from the first time I saw him, though Black refused to listen to me. He enjoys the control aspects and being cared for?"

"I think so. I think being pulled into that life really took a toll on him, but he's not as fragile as his uncle thinks him to be. I doubt anyone could have held up as well as he did given the circumstances," Kira said with a nod of his head.

She nodded and then reached behind her on the table and handed a stack of papers to each man. "This is sometimes called a limit list, a fuck list, or sometimes just the list. It is a comprehensive listing of things that people can do both sexually and non-sexually in our lifestyle. This is a basic starting point for anyone entering this lifestyle. You both should have your limits outlined before you even begin to work with the limits of your subs. Hard limits are definite no's that are never to be broached. A soft limit is something that may be doable or worth trying, but something done carefully. You'll notice that this is an expanded list. Some of the activities are obvious, others are explained. Each of you, I want to look over it and tell me something you know already you will set as a hard limit."

Both young men nodded and shuffled through the papers. Kira winced at a few things. "Knife, gun, and breath play," Kira said immediately. "I'm not going to do anything like that, no matter what. That's too dangerous, I'm training to be a doctor, there's no way I can justify doing something like that."

Imelda nodded. "Good, good, you know what you don't want, and that is the first step."

Narcisse looked up. "Blood, knife, gun, breath, humiliation…yeah, guess I have a lot of things I won't do..." he said.

"This is how you begin. Now, for both of you, this is the first piece to work with. Kira, since you have Ichigo already, you need to complete this and move on to working on his. The essential part with that is to make sure he does not see what you have chosen, and that you don't influence him at all. You want a picture of what he wants out of this relationship with you, not what he thinks you want. He's still coming out of the conditioned mindset Black put him into and it will take time for that to go away."

Kira nodded and then he and Narcisse both got to work filling out the papers and going over them in detail to understand everything on there. It was a lot of information and by the time they both got to the end it was almost one in the afternoon and they had protesting stomachs. He took out his phone and texted Hisagi to see how things were going.

_Everything okay?_

A few seconds later the response came. _Fine, we ordered in pizza. Saved you some. Ichi wants to know when you'll be back._

Kira smiled to himself. _Soon. What are you two doing now?_

_Watching a movie, _came the response.

_Let me guess, you have a lap full of strawberry?_ Kira said, smirking at his phone.

_Shut up, Izzy._

Well, that was all the confirmation he needed on that. He sat back and sighed. Narcisse looked at him.

"Was it really bad?" he asked. "I mean, the way that Master Black treated him?"

Kira nodded. "He's scared to do anything. He's got so many marks on his back; he's going to have scars when they heal. I just can't imagine doing something like that to someone…"

Narcisse nodded, looking over his papers and back up at Kira. "What…what do you think he'll like?"

Kira shook his head. "I don't know, and it isn't going to be easy to get him to understand what he wants. I mean, to have someone treating him so badly, even for such a short time, he's still coming down off it. He wants to be held a lot, and he's really, really insecure…"

Imelda put a hand on Kira's shoulder. "He's waiting to be told what to do. In a way, you'll have to do that. He needs direction and a way to make things feel real again."

Kira nodded. "Um, Imelda, something else I'd like to ask you…" he said softly.

She sat down beside him again and nodded. "Yes?"

"I think…I think he may have formed a connection with my friend, my roommate Shuuhei, he wasn't at the party with us, but he helped Professor Urahara get into it," Kira said, fiddling with the phone.

"Is that a problem?" she asked gently.

Kira shook his head. "No, it's just he's having trouble because he's always been, ah, really straight. He's quite the womanizer, sleeps with all sorts of girls, you know. We've been best friends forever, and now he's having an unusual reaction to Ichigo…and he's confused by it."

Imelda nodded. "It isn't something you should worry about. Your friend, he must come to his one conclusions. As far as you, are you okay with him showing affection toward another?"

Kira nodded. "Oh, of course. I'm glad that Shuu can help him too. I mean, I feel like I'm asking him to babysit when I leave…but Shuu doesn't mind. He's sitting watching a movie with him now, apparently with him curled up beside him again."

"Then don't worry, things will work out the way they will, sweetie," she said with a gentle smile. "Now, you go on back to him, and talk this through. This is so important…and he has to know that it is his consent to give. He never consented to what Black did. He needs to understand that. He had no rape fantasy that was fulfilled, he actually was raped by that man, whether Black knew it or not at the time. Getting him to acknowledge that is a huge step toward healing him."

Kira nodded and got up. "I'm taking him to meet his family later today. I'm hoping it goes well…but I'm nervous."

She smiled gently. "Come back tomorrow afternoon, after you've talked this over with him and we'll work on a few more things," she said and patted his back.

Kira nodded, taking his papers and bidding Narcisse farewell. He climbed into his car and sighed. This was complicated, but there was a strange sense of calm that seemed to have descended upon him. He was comfortable with the whole thing, and he wanted Ichigo to be just as comfortable. First, though, there was a meeting with his family.

_Monday, September 23, 2014_

_St. Louis Restaurant_

_6:30 pm_

"I'm not sure I understand Ms. Estrella," Yuzu said with a frown.

The girls, their father and Rangiku had met up with Estrella and Grimm at a small out of the way restaurant for dinner. They'd secured a private room, and were now waiting for Kira to bring Ichigo to see them. Yuzu and Karin were both wary because Rangiku and Isshin seemed abnormally calm. Estrella had agreed to the task to sit down the girls and explain what had happened to their brother. Isshin had tried, and he just couldn't bring himself to even say the words, let alone talk to the fifteen year olds about it.

"I know this is going to be hard, but your brother has been through a very hard time," she said with a smile.

Karin, who Estrella had taken an immediate liking to, was unnaturally perceptive, she noted. "Hard time, that doesn't sound like he was just injured."

Estrella nodded. "You're right, he wasn't. I'm not going to treat you guys like kids, because you aren't kids, so I'm just going to tell you flat out. Your Uncle Ryuken was a bad man; he was running a prostitution ring where he blackmailed students at the school into participating. He had some really powerful clients, and he used that to keep from being caught. I guess he was still in love with your mom, and then blamed your father and Ichigo when she died. He wanted to take out his anger on someone and forced your brother into this prostitution ring by threatening you girls…"

"That doesn't make sense, we live in Japan…" Yuzu said with wide eyes.

"Your uncle used the fact if something happened to your dad, he would be your guardian. He told your brother he'd make you do these things, like going to these parties where he sold the services of the students he had blackmailed. One of these men, the deputy mayor of the city, was also into the bondage scene. Your uncle convinced him to take Ichigo for nearly a week and do intensive…training," she said with a nod. This is where the explanation got difficult.

Karin frowned. "Okay, so first off, your saying my uncle took in my brother and then forced him to have sex with people that paid him, with men, and then let one of them do what exactly?"

Estrella sighed. "Mr. Aizen, known as Master Black, used a lot of humiliation, physical punishment, and a few other things I'd rather not detail…"

The twin girls glanced at each other and back at Estrella. "What does this mean for him?"

Estrella smiled softly. "He's going to need your support, and you need to understand he's still recovering. He's withdrawn and he'll be coming with a young man who is helping care for him and get him through the aftermath of everything, Izuru Kira, and I think Izuru's friend Shuuhei Hisagi will be coming as well. They are both fluent in Japanese, so you can talk freely around them however you like. Ichigo has to get used to being able to do things by his own choice and he may defer to Izuru instead of speaking for himself. I need you two to understand that this is normal, and not judge him on this right now. Mr. Aizen had him under strict rules that he couldn't speak no matter what, so he hasn't recovered from that conditioning."

Karin and Yuzu glanced over at a nearby table where their father and Rangiku were talking with Grimm, most likely about the same things. "So, is he still the same?" Yuzu asked quietly.

Estrella patted her hand. "No matter what, he's still your brother."

Estrella heard the door opened and saw the dark haired boy with the facial tattoos that had helped them out. He looked around, noticeably a little out of place feeling. She had to admit he was a good looking guy, dark hair and was wearing skin tight jeans and an equally tight t-shirt. He looked behind him and she noted that he had one of Ichigo's hands in his. Ichigo was dressed in a plain t-shirt, most likely one of the dark haired boys shirts, and a pair of too loose jeans that was also his she imagined. He hadn't been back to get his things, she knew. She'd have to see if Uryuu would go retrieve them for him.

Kira was behind him, and she smiled, he always dressed so smart, a button down white shirt and a pair of grey slacks. He put both hands on Ichigo's shoulders when he stopped in the doorway, eyes darting around before going back to the floor. She heard Kira tell him something and he nodded, letting Kira push him the rest of the way into the room. He looked nervous.

"No…" she heard Kira say to Ichigo as he turned and faced him. "No, we're not leaving," he said gently, but she caught the tone in his voice that spoke of quiet authority. She watched, fascinated as Kira lifted his head up by the chin and locked eyes with him. Her stomach flipped because he wasn't a whole lot better than when they pulled him out of that place. He was at least speaking, she supposed.

She patted Karin's shoulder as she got up and went over where the three were still standing by the door.

"Izuru, Shuuhei, right?" she said, glancing at the dark haired one and getting a nod. "Ichigo," she said smiling to him. His brown eyes flashed over her and tried to return to the ground.

Kira smiled at her. "He's nervous about seeing them, he's afraid they won't understand," Kira said quietly to her.

"Ichigo," she said, and he looked up at her, blinking. "Honey, they know what's happened, and they understand what's going on, they know that you want Izuru with you, and they aren't going to try and make you go back to Japan."

His eyes widened a bit and she smiled. "I know you were afraid of that," she said. "Your father and sisters are going to stay here for a while. They want to help, not force you to do anything you aren't ready to do."

Isshin, Rangiku and both girls watched with more than a little trepidation. Isshin's heart was in his throat because that was not his son, not the one he put on a plane a few short months ago. His posture was wrong, bent and his shoulders rounded. His limp was far more pronounced and his eyes, where before he would stare anyone down at a small provocation, remained lowered and away from everyone. He squeezed Rangiku's hand tightly and she returned it. She saw it too. They'd talked about what to expect. The effects of what he'd been put through wouldn't have gone away so soon. He only hoped he didn't become aggressive like some of the male victims he'd seen over the years in the clinic. He worried about him damaging his knee irreparably. Finally he seemed to have agreed to something and he nodded, letting the blonde boy lead him by the hand over to where Isshin and Rangiku sat. The girls had come and sat on the ends of the table and Grimm had gone to sit with Estrella at a side table so the family could be together.

Hisagi started to veer towards the other table with the two officers sat but Ichigo's hand grabbed his wrist. He didn't look at him or say anything but Hisagi nodded. He grabbed another chair and sat beside him while Kira took the other side. He smiled at the brown haired girl who just stared at him for a long time. He glanced over at the older man, Ichigo's father.

"Good evening, Kurosaki-sama," Kira said with a slight bow of his head. "I hope you don't mind, but Shuu-chan wanted to come as well. He is my best friend and roommate.

Isshin nodded. "Nice to meet you. These are my daughters, Karin and Yuzu, and this is their godmother, Rangiku," he said with a smile.

Ichigo honestly had not been this nervous about something in his entire life. He couldn't even look at his father, how was he going to talk to him? His hands were already shaking and he felt Kira take one and Hisagi the other under the table.

Kira smiled and looked at him. "Ichi, please, I know this is difficult," he said gently. "You are going to talk to your father. Remember?"

Ichigo looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry," he said, biting down on his lip.

"No, no, stop that," Kira said, sighing. "Stop apologizing, love. Now," he said. Ichigo nodded and looked up at his father.

"Hey, goat face," he said, trying to smile at him.

Isshin smiled. "Hey son," he said, and swallowed. "I am glad to see you."

Ichigo nodded, trying very hard to resist the urge to look down and away from him. "H-how have you b-been?" he asked. Normalcy was a lot harder than he thought.

"Good son, good. We're staying at a nice hotel near Kira's house," he said with a smile.

Kira looked up as the server entered and took drink orders. Ichigo froze when she looked at him; he glanced at Kira and back at her. Kira gave him a moment until the server started to look annoyed. "Uh, coke, right, Ichi?" he asked. He seemed to remember he favored coke at the school. He nodded quickly and looked down at the table again. Kira sighed as the server gave him an odd look. Of course she would, Ichigo still looked like hell. Most the marks were covered with his clothes but, there were welts down his arms and his neck was still an angry red. His cheek was still purple and somewhat swollen.

Isshin locked eyes with Kira for a minute and was aware at how difficult this was for the younger man. He smiled and looked over the menu for a moment. "So, son, what do you like food-wise since you came to America?" he asked, smiling.

Ichigo looked up, this time only hesitating a moment and Kira could have cheered. "Um, burgers are nice, and these pop tart things, I like them, and they do a lot of meat here, a lot more than I'm used to. The first time Uncle…" Dammit, Kira thought, as his voice trailed off and he blinked. "It was odd, and hard to get used to," he said after a minute and picked up the glass the server had just brought.

They were speaking Japanese, which of course was odd, but she kept giving Kira an accusatory look when she glanced at him. This wasn't going to do, he thought, rolling his eyes and holding up a hand. "Ma'am, would you talk to those two over there, please, about what is going on here."

She frowned. "I don't…"

"I don't intend to have you glaring at me all night for something I had nothing to do with. Detective Jaeger and his companion can explain," he said, gesturing to their table.

The server stated to protest but didn't, going over to the table. Kira sighed. Ichigo was looking at him. He patted his hand. "Nothing to worry about, Ichi-ai. She's a little too nosey for my liking about the situation," he said.

Ichigo nodded and before long she was back taking their orders and again Ichigo paused. Kira took a steadying breath. "Ichi-ai, she's waiting for your order. What would you like?"

He looked at Kira and back down to the menu. "I…don't know. Can you order for me?" he said, looking back up with wide eyes.

"Nope, first step with me, I don't choose your food, you do," Kira said with a nod of his head. "I don't know you well enough to even begin to guess what you like and don't like."

Ichigo looked more than a little unsettled by the statement. "He didn't care," he said quietly.

Kira shook his head. "Nope, but I do. So pick something you like, then."

Ichigo eventually ordered a cheeseburger and a side salad. The server didn't glare at Kira anymore and he was glad of it. Something about that really had bothered him. He never thought he'd be the person to be bothered by presumptions. Of course, what Kira didn't know was not only was she staring because she believed Kira to have been the cause of his injury, she had seen Ichigo's image on the news. She hadn't been interested enough to try and figure out why he was on the news though.

They ate in relative silence and Kira had to encourage Ichigo several times to finish his food. He had lost way too much weight, and really needed to put some of it back on. Kira had been thinking of something and discussed it briefly with Hisagi before they came to the café.

"Kurosaki-san, I hate to see you be cramped in that hotel. I'd like to extend an invitation to stay at my home, if you and your family would like. I have a smaller house, but it has three bedrooms, and Hisagi's room is the largest, so the girls could stay in it and you could have our spare. We have a fourth but it is a bit cramped with computers and the like, and is much too small for a bed to fit comfortably," he said with a nod of his head at them.

Ichigo looked at him with wide eyes for a moment. "If it is okay with you, of course, Ichi-ai," he said smiling.

"Um, yeah, if you want, pop, that'd be nice…" Ichigo said, really surprised at the offer. And Hisagi was willing to give up his room too?

Isshin nodded; quite impressed by the young man already and how he was dealing with things. "I'd be honored, Kira-san," he said with a gentle nod.


	9. Deep Breathing

**Quiet Protector**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_Deep Breathing_

* * *

_Tuesday, September 24, 2014_

_Hisagi/Kira's home_

_8:00 am_

It was going to be odd. There was no two ways about it. Kira probably didn't think about how odd it was going to be to have Ichigo's family in the same house as them until the next day when he opened the door in a robe to see them on his porch. He winced at the early time and escorted them into the living room and told them he'd have to roll Hisagi out of bed before they could start anything. The night before this plan had seemed to make a whole lot more sense but he was beginning to doubt his sanity. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He sighed as he came up the steps. The left side was his room with the en suite bath. The right side was Hisagi's room with another en suite bath. The house had been a custom build, and it made the perfect house for a couple roommates because of the adjoining baths to the equally sized master bedrooms.

This, however, boded well for their living situation. This Matsumoto and the twin girls would comfortably fit in Hisagi's room, and Hisagi would comfortably fit in his room with Ichigo. The smaller spare bedroom was downstairs where the partial bath was located, but even that had a shower stall in it. The spare had room for a dresser, a twin bed, and a small desk. The fourth bedroom was much smaller and only had room for the two computer desks and chairs that the two college students had placed inside it. However, this meant that they would for the most part be able to remain separate from them most the time, and it would perhaps give Hisagi a chance to explore his newfound infatuation with Ichigo.

He groaned and rapped on the door to his room. Hisagi could be heard stumbling around inside and finally opened the door, like Kira, wearing a robe, though Hisagi's was hanging loose over him. At least he was wearing boxers this time. "Wha?" he asked.

"The Kurosakis are here. We're going to have to get them settled, remember?" Kira said with a smile.

Hisagi nodded. "Yeah, okay, I pulled most my clothes last night, where you want me to put them?"

Kira thought. "There's that extra bathroom closet, will that work? I don't use it."

"Yeah, that works. Lemme get dressed and I'll take my shit over," he said with a yawn.

Kira went back to his room and changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and then headed downstairs, noting that Ichigo hadn't stirred at all when he got dressed.

"Kurosaki-san, please, here is your room," he said, leading him into the spare room. Isshin thanked him and he smiled at the girls. "Hisagi-chan will be finished in a moment. He's moving his clothes over into my room."

"Kira, I'm wondering about Ichigo's sleeping arrangements?" Isshin asked quietly.

"He sleeps with me currently. I offered to put him down here, but he refused, and he doesn't seem to be able to sleep without someone…" Kira started then he was cut off by a shrill screech. He gasped and ran up the stairs two at a time, Isshin behind him, and Matsumoto keeping the girls downstairs with some effort. Of course they wanted to know what was happening, however, it wasn't the best idea. Kira knew Ichigo wouldn't want them to see him at his worst.

Kira turned and found that Hisagi had already come into the room and was holding a sobbing Ichigo. Kira hurried into the room and crawled onto the bed on the other side.

"What happened?" he asked gently, glancing up at Hisagi who had a pained expression.

Ichigo was nearly hyperventilating. "He was there, the first time, I just…I couldn't…I couldn't get away from him, and he didn't care at all…and it hurt so much…and I was screaming and no one heard me," he gasped into the hollow of Hisagi's neck.

Kira smiled, rubbing gentle circles on his back. "Oh, Ichi-ai, I'm so sorry I wasn't here. But as you can see, Hisagi and I can hear you just fine, love, just relax," he said, leaning forward and kissing the back of his head gently. "They're nightmares now, love. Just nightmares. I know they're memories, but nightmares and memories can't hurt you anymore."

Ichigo let go of Hisagi and turned to Kira, burying his head in his chest and gripping him tightly now. Kira looked up at Hisagi with a sad smile. "He's attached you to safety, Shuu. You need to decide now rather than later how involved you are going to become. If you want nothing of this, you need to stay elsewhere until we can get through the worst," Kira said softly to his dearest friend, knowing that he would understand his reason for doing so.

Hisagi nodded. "I understand. Can…can I go talk to that lady before you go by there today with Ichi?" he asked.

Kira smiled at him. "On the dresser, the address and name is on the paper by my keys. Take the car. Be back by lunch, though."

Hisagi jumped up and grabbed the paper and hurried past the silent Isshin. He nodded to him surprised to see him; honestly, as he'd forgotten he was even there. Kira, on the other hand, had completely forgotten he had been followed up the stairs and was busy at the moment. It wasn't the first nightmare, or flashback, or whatever they were to be called. He couldn't do anything to make them stop except hold him tightly until his breathing and heart rate returned to normal.

"Just feel me, Ichi-ai. I'm here, just here, no one else is going to hurt you again, I've promised you that. It is not going to happen again, my dearest," Kira said, gently adjusting himself until his back was against the headboard and Ichigo was pretty much straddling his lap. He'd draped his arms around Kira's neck and buried his face in the space between his shoulder and neck. Kira could feel his heart beating rabbit-fast between them and his breath huffing quickly against his blond hair.

"Calm, calm," he whispered, hands busy across his back and shoulders. "Calm, and feel me now, not any of them, not anymore," he continued, noting the slowing of both his breathing and heartbeat. "There, now, there you go," he said, smiling against the top of his head. "Now, I need you to be really brave today, do you think you can?"

Ichigo's head shook slowly. Kira sighed. "Ichi-ai. No, none of that. You can, and I know it. Your dad and sisters have come and are getting settled in. When Shuu-chan comes back, we've got to go out again…"

Ichigo's head popped up and he stared at him wide eyed. "You won't leave me," he said quietly.

"Ichi-ai, I won't leave you ever, understand. Shuu will come back, and I have a feeling that he'll be going with us to see Mistress Cybelle," he said softly, cupping his face with one hand.

Ichigo shook his head. "But…but he won't stay, you told him he…he had to g-go and he'll go away, and I don't want him to leave," Ichigo said blinking and then a red blush shot up his cheeks and he winced, putting his face back in Kira's shirt.

Kira smiled, patting his head gently. "You trust him too?"

A slight nod against Kira's skin. "So why are you hiding from me now? Do you think I'll be angry?" Another slight nod. "No sweet, no. Look at me," Kira said with a smile and watched as he looked back up. "It is fine if you like Shuu, he's my best friend in the world, and there's no one else who I would ever trust with your protection than him."

"B-but you said…" Ichigo began.

Kira shook his head. "Shuu is having some issues understanding himself because he likes you too, and wants to help, but he's a bit confused since he's never felt that way before. I want him to figure things out quickly because I don't want to see you hurt."

Ichigo nodded, nuzzling against him again. Kira glanced up to see Isshin was watching from the doorway with a soft smile on his face. He was glad he had father approval, it would seem.

Isshin had his doubts about the whole situation, to be honest. He didn't like the idea that he couldn't directly help his son. However, watching Kira with him showed him some very important things. There was genuine care and affection in the blonde haired boy, and Ichigo trusted him, and the dark haired one as well. He supposed that it wasn't conventional; however, he was never one to have a conventional life.

"Come, I'll make everyone breakfast, it is already half past eight!" he said with a smile and Ichigo sat up, staring down at his lap. Kira's hand picked up his. "Come on, you'll be fine."

Ichigo slowly slid off the bed, picking at his pajama top with a frown. Kira reached out for his hand and Ichigo took it, still staring down. Kira sighed and reached up and gently lifted his face upward and smiled at him, pointing toward the door. He turned and froze as soon as he saw his father standing there. He didn't know how to react to his father seeing what had just happened and he just stopped.

Kira saw the reaction and counted to three to give him time to snap out of it and when he didn't he moved in front of him and clapped loudly. Ichigo started and blinked at him. "Please, you have to quit being so afraid. I want you to stop being so afraid. I am not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you."

Ichigo nodded and swallowed, closing his eyes for a long moment to collect himself. It was so hard to deal with so much. He was still beside himself with the fact that he could be taken apart so completely in such a short amount of time. He couldn't even see his father without freezing because family didn't mean safety to him anymore and it was killing him inside. This was his _father_ not his _uncle._ For some reason, his mind was skipping over that important fact. Only Kira and Hisagi were safe, he felt.

"Ichigo," he heard his father say and he opened his eyes and looked at him. "Son, it's okay. I understand, please, I do understand. I know that Kira-san is safe, and I know…as much as it hurts me to say it…I know that I'm not safe yet."

Ichigo nodded slowly, relieved beyond all measure that his father seemed to somehow understand. Then he recalled the fact that he'd been a doctor at the low income clinic for a long time. He was sure that there had been more than one rape victim in his days there. No doubt he knew a thing or two about dealing with traumatized people. He knew it had to kill him that his own son was in that category. He blinked. He was putting himself in that category. Had he accepted that that is what had happened? He began to doubt those thoughts, but he put them away for now. He shivered and nodded to Kira, hoping he understood he was ready.

Kira smiled and led him by the hand downstairs as Isshin followed them close behind. Both girls were on their feet as soon as they hit the bottom of the stairs, and Ichigo found himself clinging even tighter to the hand he held like a lifeline. The girls could both see his discomfort easily enough and stayed where they were, of course aided by a firm hold by Matsumoto's hand on their shoulders.

"Ichi-ai, would you sit down and talk to your family and I'll make breakfast?" Kira said with a smile, feeling the hand tighten on his, but Ichigo nodded, heading into the living room with a shuffling step. Kira smiled and headed into the kitchen.

_Tuesday, September 24, 2014_

_St. Louis County Jail_

_8:10 am_

Ryuken nodded his white head at the man across the glass from him as he smiled. He was in the orange suits for the local prison. He'd been moved already. Now he was talking to someone.

"Are you sure?" the man on the other side asked. He was an odd looking fellow, bald save a top knot of black hair on top of his head. He wore glasses and a three piece suit.

Ryuken smiled at him. "Of course. I want him to suffer."

"But…it's your own son. I don't…" the man said, frowning.

"Just do it. I want him to suffer, I want his life to be ruined. He's a lying little brat and deserves no less," he said with a cold glare. "Opie, I want him alive, understand that. I just want him to never be able to use his hands again."

Opie nodded. "Okay, it is your choice, old friend. I'll order one of my boys to take care of it. What was the stuff called again?" he said, tipping his head to hold the phone and jot down the stuff Ryuken wanted used. "Okay, I'll handle it. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Ryuken smirked. "Oh there's lots to do still…" he said, and there was a manic glitter to his eyes.

_Tuesday, September 24, 2014_

_Imelda's Club_

_9:00 am_

Hisagi stared at the door to the place and thought over what he was thinking for a long moment. He was surprised when the door opened and he found himself staring at a huge guy with hair that was half red and half black.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Hisagi blinked. "Um, yeah, is, ah, I'm looking for ah…" he stammered, running a hand over his head. "I don't know her name but my friend is coming to see her later…and he said I should…"

"Who is it?" came another voice, and the man with red and black hair stepped back immediately, his head dropping.

"I don't know, sir, he hasn't told me his name or purpose, sir," he said in a strangely quieter tone.

The man that came into the doorway was a short, slight looking man with bright eyes and decidedly feminine dress. He had black hair that was tied up in several braids that cascaded down his back in neat, perfect lines. He wore a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt that had sleeves that obscured his hands.

"Aren't you Master Kira's friend?" he asked finally.

"Ah, yeah, I am, sorry…I just…" he said, glancing between the huge guy who was studiously staring at the ground and the decidedly fierce glare this short, feminine man was giving him.

"Come in then, I'm Luppi, Mistress Cybelle is in the back if you wish to speak with her. She's unoccupied at this time," he said with a nod, and moved so Hisagi could enter. The smaller man turned to the other. "Go inform the others I'll be delayed."

The other man bowed slightly and nodded. "Sir, yes sir," he said and turned and left, his eyes never rising from the floor.

Hisagi watched curiously realizing the man wore a thick leather collar and cuffs like the ones that Kira had brought for Ichigo to wear at home. He had questions but he would hold them for now. Soon enough the shorter man was knocking on a door. "Yes?" came the female voice from within.

"Master Kira's friend would like to speak with you, Mistress," he said.

"Ah, let him in," came the response.

Luppi opened the door and then stepped back. Hisagi entered a relatively normal looking office where the large breasted woman sat at a desk. She wore a red shirt and trousers from what he saw as he sat down across from her. She looked up with a warm smile.

"Good day, you are Shuuhei Hisagi, yes?" she said, leaning back.

Hisagi nodded. "Yeah, um, Izzy said to come talk to you because I'm not really sure I know what's happening and I'm confused," he said, looking down at his hands.

She nodded. "What has you confused?"

Hisagi looked up. "Um, I'm straight."

She smiled. "As are many people," she responded. "Does your sexual preference have something to do with this?"

Hisagi opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally sighed. "I'm attracted to Ichigo."

She smiled. "Oh?"

He looked up at her, confused. "Oh? That's all you have for that? I'm a straight guy and I'm attracted to another guy. Isn't that…you know, weird?"

Imelda sighed. "Of course not, sexuality isn't a black or white thing, my dear. It is much, much deeper and more complex than that. My brother is asexual, finds no gratification in sexual release, no interest either, and would be happy to have a partner should they respect his boundaries. Relationships and sexuality aren't just about sex, my dear. Sex is a lovely, and healthy act, but the question that comes up when in a sexual relationship that is more than just sex, what does that mean? Sex is an addition, dear, not the sole purpose of attraction and affection. Certainly, you see a beautiful girl and you feel urges. What, however, do you want when those urges are not really satisfied when you are done with the sexual part?"

"But that's all I want when I get with the girls. Sex, no strings attached, no expectations," Hisagi said with a definite nod of his head.

"When you look at Ichigo, what do you want? I mean really, what do you want?" she said, tipping her head gently to the side to stare at him.

Hisagi shifted uncomfortably. "I…you know, I can't say that…it isn't appropriate to the situation."

"Because he's damaged and you think there is something wrong with being sexually attracted to him?" she asked, arching a brow.

Hisagi looked up at her wide eyed. "But he's…he's been…you know…"

"Hisagi, you can say the words. And just because he has been raped and abused doesn't mean he will never engage in sex again. Being sexually assaulted does not necessarily turn a person into a monk or an asexual. He may need to find safe outlets for his sexual needs, and find out who those safe people are in his life," she said with a smile. "But tell me; is your attraction purely sexual? If it is, then you would have been attracted to him from the first day you saw him," she said, leaning across the desk and looking at him.

Hisagi shook his head. "Of course I didn't like him before. Wait, does that mean there's something wrong with me to like him now when I didn't before?" he asked, eyes wide. "I mean, am I only into him because someone hurt him because that's fucked up if so…"

Imelda sighed. "I doubt that. When did you first think you were interested in him? That will tell you the truth, Shuuhei."

Hisagi frowned and shook his head. "It…it was the night that he fell asleep with me. I just kept looking at him and thinking it was awesome that he trusted me that much, that he was sleeping against me, and I felt warm and happy that I had comforted him. Like I was the most important person in the world for someone who had been hurt by so many other men to trust me. I thought for sure he'd be afraid of me, I mean all those other men, they did those things to him, and I just was amazed. He came to me for comfort. I don't know. I guess…I guess that was it."

"Then it wasn't just because he was hurt. You felt attracted to being a source of comfort. Tell me, you have slept with many women, yes?" she asked, glancing at his tattooing.

Hisagi nodded. "I like women. A lot."

She smiled at him. "And what do you want when you sleep with a woman, Shuuhei?"

He looked up and frowned. "I don't understand."

"When you sleep with a woman, what makes you happy? What makes you feel fulfilled, other than the obvious reaction of ejaculation, because let's be honest, it isn't necessary to have another person to reach completion." she said with a soft smile. "What exactly happens when you're with a woman? How do you reach your own fulfillment?"

For a long moment, he thought over that statement. What exactly was it that he wanted when he was with a woman? "I have to please her before I can please myself. I have to make her happy and completely sated before I can find my own release. I mean, I can't go until I've made her orgasm," he said softly. It was slightly embarrassing to be talking about these things.

"And why different women? What are you looking for that you haven't found yet, Shuuhei?" she asked, eyes narrowing and leaning over again.

Despite her incredibly large chest, she noticed that not once had Hisagi turned his attention to her cleavage. No, in fact, his gaze lingered the longest on her face. He was not a true womanizer. He was, instead, searching for something that he had so far been unable to find. She'd seen it before. Men and women believing, mistakenly, that sexual gratification would lead to happiness.

"I…I don't know. Every time I would be happy but there was something missing, something about them…just wasn't right. I mean, it was good, I don't think I can come up with a girl I had bad sex with, but nothing special. Is it bad to say that they all felt the same? Like I was fucking the same girl, just with different faces? I mean, and I've slept with hefty girls, skinny girls, athletic girls, tiny girls, really tall girls, all kinds of girls. And no matter what, there wasn't anything…different," he said finally, looking up at her. "What was I looking for?"

Imelda smiled. "That's for you to answer. Let me ask this, did you finally find it in someone you didn't expect? Did you find that thing that was missing in Ichigo?"

Hisagi didn't know what to say. Had he finally found what he was looking for?

He sat and thought for a long time. "Okay, so if sexuality is fluid, does that mean it can change?" he said. "Like since I've never been attracted to men before, but I'm attracted to Ichigo. Izzy said I might be Ichi-sexual or hetero-flexible."

Imelda nodded. "There are men and women who go their whole lives believing themselves straight or gay, and then one day they find themselves falling in love with someone they never thought they would be with. The gay man that suddenly falls for a girl, the straight girl that is in love with her best friend, and many more. It is possible for you to be of an orientation and fall for one person of the other sex that you never thought you would fall for. Perhaps, as Kira said, you are hetero-flexible, and in your life you may come across a man or two you find attraction to, or maybe you are simply attracted to one man, Ichigo."

Hisagi sighed, rubbing a hand over his black hair. "But is it weird to love him if Kira loves him? Doesn't he like belong to Izzy now? I mean, isn't that like dating a person that has a boyfriend?"

"Dear, you must stop thinking in black and white so much. There is a thing called polyamorous groups, triads, groups of four, more, even. Love should not be limited to one person if you have enough to share. Would it bother you to see Kira kissing and loving Ichigo?" she asked.

"Of course not, Ichigo needs the affection, the love, you know. And Izzy really adores him. I'd never be bothered by that, you know," Hisagi said, shaking his head.

"And would you still want to kiss him?" she asked, arching a brow at him.

"Sure, why not?" he said, looking up at her. "Just because he was kissing Izzy, that's okay, I mean, Izzy and I've been together forever, doesn't bother me. We eat and drink after each other, I'm not afraid to swap some of his spit…ah…I see what you're saying…" Hisagi said.

Imelda nodded. "Are you attracted to Kira?"

Hisagi started to say no. "I…would have said no. But I'm not sure now. I mean, as far as guys go, he's always been there, and I love him, and… Man, I'm so confused now."

"You are only confused because you're trying to put yourself in a box with labels and definitions. Let me give you a scenario, and you tell me what you'd do," she said.

Hisagi nodded.

"You are home with Ichigo and Kira. We'll say time has passed and he is much recovered from his experiences and has become sexually active with Kira. Ichigo comes to you and asks if you want to come join them. He says he wants you to be with him while Kira watches. What do you say?" she said, watching him.

"Hell yeah," he said without missing a beat then looked at her. "Oh."

"You see, you didn't think, did you, it was an immediately apparent that you wanted to have sex with him, and Kira's presence was not going to deter you," she said. "Would it bother you to share a bed with Kira and Ichigo?"

Hisagi shook his head. "We're pretty much doing that already. I feel like we're book-ends."

"Good, and what if Ichigo asked you to go further that just sex, wanted you to discipline him or take care of him like Kira will be doing?" she asked. "What if he wanted you to Dom him as well?"

Hisagi's mouth went dry. "Oh, that sounds…like fucking hot."

She smiled. Sometimes young people were such idiots. "Well, the way things are going, it may be what he desires. This could include…more kinky things than you're used to. Like possible double penetration if things get that far."

Hisagi arched a brow. "Like, you know where two guys nail a chick, one up the butt and one in the vag?" he asked. "Cuz I've done that."

"You can't do that with a male partner. It is much more intimate for all parties involved, perhaps one of the most indescribably intimate acts I've know my male Doms to engage in, and if it comes to that, are you okay with the closeness to Kira?" she asked.

Hisagi thought. "You mean, two…both…up the…at the same time?" he said. "Can you do that?"

Imelda snickered. "Sweetheart, I've seen boys take a fist and arm up their bum to the elbow, I think taking two cocks up it would be easy. You really have very little experience in this, don't you?" she said, smiling at him gently. She stood up and handed him a stack of papers when she sat down. "Complete these and come back with Ichigo and Kira later. If you don't understand something, I'm sure you can google it."

Hisagi took the information and nodded without another word. What sort of thing was he getting into? His mind wandered back to the feelings and images of Ichigo curled in his arms and he really didn't care what it was. He wanted it. He wanted to be wanted. He wanted to be needed. And for the first time in his life, he wanted something more than a fuck and run. He wanted something more than ever before.

_Tuesday, September 24, 2014_

_Hisagi/Kira's home_

_10:00 am_

After breakfast was done, Kira watched as Ichigo attempted to interact normally with his family. Ichigo was sitting on the couch currently, listening as his sisters went on about what they had done since he left Japan. Ichigo, to his credit tried desperately to interact with them. However, every time one of them got the least bit louder or seemed to be pushing him in some way, he would back down and close up.

It was almost painful for Isshin to watch the struggle his son was going through. He was certain that he was where he needed to be, though. He'd seen the reactions to the things that others did around him. Ichigo was so broken inside that he needed help putting the pieces back together. First to be raped repeatedly and told it was his own choice, then to be forced into a slavery relationship he had no desire for, it was a wonder the boy wasn't completely unresponsive to everyone around him. He'd seen rape victims with far less trauma in much worse shape mentally over the years.

Isshin saw the way he kept looking at Kira for encouragement. It pained him to realize that he wasn't looking to him, his father, for help. He understood though. All his trust had been destroyed by someone who should have been trusted.

After watching him struggle for an hour, becoming increasingly more distressed, he approached and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ichi-ai, before I go back to see Imelda, I have some stuff to talk about with you, would you like to come upstairs for a while? Your family can explore the terrible cable channels we have," he said gently.

Ichigo's sisters looked up with a confused expression but Isshin nodded to him. Ichigo immediately was up and headed up the stairs before he could even say another word. When Kira got to their room, Ichigo had already climbed up on the bed and was sitting on his knees with his back to the headboard. He groaned to himself. Okay, ignore the trained behaviors for now, he told himself. First we need to work on this list…

"Ichi, Imelda gave me some lists to work on with you. I want to know what you want, not what anyone told you, what you really want. If it will work between us, if we're compatible, we'll go from there," Kira said with a small smile.

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "Compatible? What does that mean? What if we want different things? What do you want?"

Kira shook his head, pulling out the papers. "If this is what you want, I need to know what you want."

Ichigo nodded and looked over the papers, recognizing more than a few of the things that Master Black had forced him to do. Some things…would be okay if it was Kira doing them. Some things, he didn't want ever to happen again.

"Master Black didn't give me anything like this?" he said, looking up.

Kira nodded. "He didn't. But I'm not Master Black."

Ichigo nodded, still unsure. Kira wanted him to do this, and Ichigo wanted Kira to be happy, he wanted to be treated nicely and to be held and comforted and loved and all those things… He sighed deeply and went to work on the papers to Kira's delight. He turned back to his own and went through them quietly. He looked up a little while later and heard the door open and saw that Hisagi had come back. Ichigo's attention snapped up and he smiled broadly at the dark haired man.

Kira looked up. "Hey, how'd your visit go?" he asked.

Hisagi smiled and held up a small, familiar stack of papers. Kira nodded.

"You didn't tell me that she's an actual sex therapist…." Hisagi said, flopping on the bed beside Ichigo and glancing at his work.

"I know, cool right?" Kira said, arching a brow. "So you're in?"

Hisagi reached out and wrapped an arm around the orangette and tucked him into his body. "I'm in. Since I'm new to this, maybe we should wait to go back and see her until tomorrow?"

"You're right, let me call her and find out if that's okay," Kira said, picking up his phone and dialing her number.

"Mistress Cybelle," came the reply on the other in.

"Mistress, it's Kira. I know you just got done talking with Shuuhei, and I was wondering if before we came to see you, if it might be better to make sure all of these forms are done? I know Shuu will have questions on some of it," he said smiling at his friend who stuck his tongue out at him.

"Of course, my dear, that would be fine. Shall we say tomorrow at around one pm?" she asked.

Kira nodded, thinking. "Yes, I think that's fine."

"See all three of you then?" she asked gently.

"See you then," Kira said and nodded to the pair on the bed. He put his phone down and sat down beside Ichigo, letting him come closer to him while Hisagi went through the paperwork.

After a minute he looked up. "Dude, I don't know what the hell some of this is," he said.

Kira laughed, as Ichigo buried his face in his chest. "Like what?" he said with a heavy sigh.

"Figging," Hisagi said, sitting back and crossing his legs and looking up at them.

Kira sighed. "Take a ginger root, fresh, peel the skin off, cut in the shape of a plug, insert into the bum," he said.

Hisagi nodded and looked up. "Wait, ginger root? Wouldn't that…burn?"

Kira shrugged. "Not for very long, but it has some delicious side effects I've heard," he said with a nod.

Hisagi had a few more questions, mostly about what certain items were. Both men caught the shudder when Hisagi asked what the different type of gags were. Hisagi felt bad for asking, but he honestly had no idea. Once he was done, he stapled his sheets and put them with Kira's. He then smiled at Kira who was sitting and reading over Ichigo's list as Ichigo had fallen asleep with his head in Kira's lap.

"I'll go see what the Kurosakis want to do for dinner," Hisagi said. "I'm sure they've snagged something from the fridge by now for snacking…"

Kira nodded and Hisagi went downstairs where he found the Kurosakis in the living room watching TV. He almost walked by but he stopped and stared in horror. It was a local news station that was doing a report of the arrest of the deputy mayor.

"Turn it up," he whispered, coming into the room.

Isshin nodded, turning up the volume.

"Reports are still coming in about what exactly happened. So far there have been no official statements from the police or mayor's office other than the deputy mayor has been dismissed. Thoughts?" the man at the desk said, looking over to the woman beside him.

"A shame, really. Mr. Aizen has been exemplary in his position. No doubt this whole situation is a farce and made up to ruin a good man's reputation," the woman said with a nod.

"You don't believe the sources that say he was caught in the middle of these acts?" the first man asked.

"Of course not, we will find out that these so called victims have likely never encountered the deputy mayor and this supposed victim of rape and false imprisonment is most likely a liar, probably someone who willingly went into the relationship with Mr. Aizen and then decided after the fact it wasn't what they wanted. Sources close to Mr. Aizen have said that he is a member of the local bondage scene, and is a well-respected member, often training others."

"What about the reports of the prostitution ring that he was taking part in run by Dr. Ryuken Ishida?" the first man asked her, looking at her strangely.

"Lies, too, no doubt. Until I see some hard evidence…"

The man opposite the first. "Hard evidence? What more do you need? We've got reports from _within_ the local bondage community that Aizen's been blacklisted there as well as dismissed from the mayor's office…"

Isshin turned the TV off. "How…I mean, how did they get this?"

Hisagi sat down beside him. "I don't know. Aizen or Ishida, either one could have leaked information to make the case more difficult to find a jury without bias. It happens. Or it could be neither, and some nosy reporter putting their nose where it doesn't belong."

Isshin nodded. "I noticed that you don't have ingredients for Japanese food. Perhaps you can take my daughters to a local aisian market and they can fix dinner for Ichigo? One of the ones he used to enjoy at home with us?"

Hisagi nodded. "That would be an excellent idea," he said looking at them. "Come on, let's get your brother some comfort food," he said, and Isshin smiled as they left.

"This is terrible, what happens when he sees these news reports?" he said, looking at Rangiku.

She shook her head. "Leave it to Hisagi and Kira. They've taken on responsibility, Isshin. You can't do everything for him."

Isshin nodded. "I know. I can see that pretty clearly," he said, running a hand over his head.


	10. Between the Whispers

**Quiet Protector**

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_A/N: FanART! _

_Ichigo in chains: www. y-gallery view/987536/_

_Kira comforts Ichigo_

_ www. y-gallery view/987538/_

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**Chapter Ten**

In Between the Whispers

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_Wednesday, September 24, 2014_

_UMSL Campus_

_9:00 am_

Szayelaporro was an odd name to have. And Szayel was indeed odd in more than one way. He had dyed his hair cotton candy pink, and wore it pulled back at the nape of his neck most days. He was taking a program at the school to become a paramedic after a couple years. Szayel was quite flamboyantly gay, and perhaps could only have been more stereotypical "gay" only if he used glitter daily. He did use it, just not every day. He walked with a swish, as he put it, and he spoke with attitude, also as he put it. He didn't cross dress, at least, not most the time. He'd been known to pull a drag outfit off at the club a time or two, but usually, he wore tight jeans and t-shirts at school, and had quite the leather fetish when he went out on the weekends.

He was having a slow day. He was volunteering at the hospital but had the day off, so he was catching up on some research for class instead. He was walking along, head held up, in search of any new quarry for his overflowing affections, across the campus. He had hands shoved in his tight embroidered jeans and was wearing a think blousy poet shirt that worked well in the late summer heat. He was headed down to the library when he heard someone yell out in pain. He stopped, looking down the embankment and listening. He heard it again, a distinct groan of pain. He paused, sliding down the damp grass and heard someone talking.

"Fuck, keep still, goddamn it," he heard a rough male voice say. That didn't sound right, he thought to himself, frowning and continuing down toward a blind spot off the path where he heard someone struggling. The second voice was slurred and muffled. "I didn't think I'd need a second for this shit," he heard and there was a loud smacking sound followed by the unmistakable groaning of someone who had been hit. "Drug him, stick him, that was it," he heard the first voice muttering. "What could be easier? No you got to make my life hard…"

Szayel wasn't about to let that slide. He wasn't the most brave, and wasn't the biggest guy, actually, he was quite thin, but there was no way he would stand by and let someone get hurt. He came around and was more than a little shocked by what he was seeing. He expected to see a student being bullied, or beat up, or worse. What he didn't expect was someone being held down by a middle aged guy in a hoodie that was trying to inject something into his wrist.

"What the hell are you doing?" Szayel yelled. The man in the hoodie looked up.

"Fuck, this shit ain't worth the kind of money I'm getting paid, fucking Opie giving me shit jobs," he said, and took off, dropping the syringe and running toward the edge of campus.

Szayel let him go, and dropped to his knees to find a man lying on the ground, semi-conscious. Blood was dripping from a puncture in his left wrist and from his lip.

"Hey man," Szayel said, pulling the dark haired man to sit up.

He looked around hazily and blinked at Szayel. "Mah…head feels funny," he slurred, swaying in Szayel's grip.

Szayel looked at him and pulled open his eye wider. His pupils were complete blown. "Honey, you've been drugged to the gills," he said, seeing the obvious signs. "Come on, up you go," he said, lifting him up. "You know your name?"

"Ur…Uryuu…" he muttered, swaying dangerously against Szayel.

"Okay, I'm Szayel, and I've got an apartment nearby, but more importantly I've got a car closer," he said with a sigh, pausing to pick up the syringe as he walked through the rest of the area and into the parking lot. He quickly loaded him into the car and headed off to his apartment that he shared with his brother Illfordt.

Illfordt was in the veterinary sciences program, and unlike his brother, he was straight. He often teased his older brother about being a fairy, to which Szayel, when he was in a snarky mood would go get the pair of fairy wings he had from a few Halloweens ago and prance about their apartment. If Illfordt was lucky, Szayel would be wearing more than a tutu, and if he was really lucky, no one would be visiting at the moment. Illfordt was rarely lucky in that respect and more than one girlfriend had been scared off by his overly flamboyant brother. However, if they left because of Szayel, he had no problems, and he'd kicked more than one homophobic whore to the curb for saying something rude about Szayel. Illfordt was the only one allowed to call his brother a sparkling fairy fuck or a sugar coated faggot. In turn, Szayel was the only one he'd tolerate calling him a man-whore or whatever slur was on Szayel's lips for that day. Anyone else, Szayel would deck. The brothers were a year apart in age, and complete opposites, but there were few brothers as close as they were at the end of the day.

Szayel pulled into the complex and into the garage and pulled the other man stumbling into the duplex. He heard Illfordt coming down from the second floor as he dumped Uryuu's mumbling body onto the couch.

"Really? You can't tell me you're brining home boys now. I thought I was the one who brought home sluts," Illfordt said with a smirk as he looked over. "The hell, he's doped up," he said, smile fading.

Szayel nodded, grabbing the first aid kit and kneeling by the couch. "GHB if I don't miss my guess," he said with a nod, taking an alcohol pad and wiping his mouth and wrist. "I caught this dude holding him down and trying to shove a needle into his wrist," he said, holding up the syringe and putting it on the coffee table.

"What do you think he was trying to do?" Illfordt said, sitting on the coffee table and pulling his blonde hair back and tying it up with a rubber band.

"Not really sure, might be able to run some tests on it at class tonight," Szayel said. "Until then, get him some water and let's try and flush his system," he said with a sigh.

Uryuu was teetering on unconsciousness, but he would flinch every now and then. "Um, go 'way, gonna get sick," he muttered.

"Hey, it's okay," he said with a smile, sitting him up. "Hey, can you hear me?" Szayel said, holding his face and staring into his eyes.

Illfordt handed him a glass of water and Szayel tipped it back into his mouth and Uryuu's eyes widened and he grabbed the glass and drank like a man dying of thirst. "Shh, hey, it's okay," Szayel said with a gentle hand against his back. "Easy. Here, here, just rest, you're okay."

Uryuu blinked and shook his head. "Yeah, feel funny," he said, sighing.

Szayel nodded. "You'll be okay in a minute. How about your hand?" he said, holding up the left hand which he frowned at because it seemed to spasm randomly.

"Little numb," he muttered, but Szayel continued to watch as his fingers randomly flexed on that hand.

"Do you know who would try to hurt you like this?" Szayel asked, frowning.

Uryuu shook his head. "M'dad…prolly," he muttered.

Szayel shook his head. "Your dad?" he asked.

"Fuckin' bastard, in jail, prolly…prolly sent someone…fuckin' son of a bitch…" he muttered.

Illfordt gasped. "Hey, I know him," he said, eyes wide. "He's the son of the Dean of Business that was just arrested, Ish…Ishida, right?"

At the name, Uryuu sat up almost violently. "Fuckin' bastard!" he said.

There was a knock at the door and a female voice yelled. "Illfordt, babe, forgot my purse last night!"

Illfordt stood up to catch her before she came into the area but was too late. "What's going on?" Lisa Yadōmaru was Illfordt's latest girlfriend. "Wait, Uryuu?" she said, coming around and seeing who was on the couch. "Uryuu? What's wrong with him?" she said, sitting beside his as he turned and looked at her.

"You know him?" Szayel said, wrapping a bandage over his left wrist.

"Yeah, he's in my fashion class. He's a master with a needle and thread… I've never seen anyone that can sew by hand as well as he can. I heard his dad was put in jail," she said, looking at him. "Is he on something?"

"Lisa…" Uryuu said. "Watch out fer da free coffee…has a kick…" he said, grinning at her goofily.

"Free coffee?" Szayel said, grabbing a syringe and taking a blood sample quickly. Uryuu didn't notice until he was done. "That's how they drugged him, I bet."

"Who drugged him?" Lisa asked, looking at Szayel.

Szayel took out a pen light and shined it in his eye for a minute. "I don't know, down by the library I caught this guy holding him down trying to inject something into his wrist. I'm guessing it may be something to deaden the radial nerve if I'm right. He said his father would have done it to him. Did he help put him away?" he said, leaning back.

Lisa looked at him. "Szay, you been under a rock?" she asked. "It's all over the news. Ryuken Ishida was arrested on some serious charges, along with the deputy mayor and several other really high profile people in the city. Uryuu's dad was running basically a forced prostitution ring, and what got him caught was he was forcing his nephew into it, and people noticed finally what was happening. He's being charged with sex trafficking and aggravated assault, as well as drug charges. I guess he was doping up Uryuu's cousin on some heavy opiates. The deputy mayor's being charged with first degree rape and assault and battery."

Illfordt frowned. "Oh, my god, that's…that's the kid in my chemistry class, the orange headed exchange student, isn't it? He's been gone like a week," he said, realization dawning on him. "Something Kuro…Kurosaki?"

Uryuu sobbed suddenly. "I'm so stupid!" he cried out, tears streaming down his face. "I shoulda stopped it, protected him, my…my cousin…Ichi, I'm so sorry…how could…could I…"

Szayel moved beside him and put an arm around his back. "Shh, honey, shh. Don't fret, honey," he said, patting his back as he turned and sobbed into his shoulder. "What could you do? Your father was a dick, honey, there's no need to blame yourself. Come on, let's put you to bed to sleep this drug off," he said, nodding to Illfordt who helped get him up the stairs and into Szayel's bed.

Szayel sat down beside him and grabbed a book. "I'll keep an eye on him; make sure his breathing stays normal. I don't think he needs to go to the hospital, doesn't look like there's a danger of overdose, but I'd still like to make sure. And if someone's after him, it might be in his best interest to stay away from public areas."

Illfordt nodded and went to leave as Lisa stuck her head into the room with an evil grin on her face. "Oh, Szayel, by the way, he's bi," she said, before leaving.

Szayel blushed and glanced over to the passed out man on his bed. Why did she have to say that when he had him sprawled like that in his bed? Really? Szayel sighed, ignoring it. Chances were he had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, anyway. Though he was cute, really hot, actually, with those silver rimmed glasses sitting askew on his nose and mouth hung open slack. He dressed kind of preppy, slacks and a button up shirt, but he looked to be leanly muscled underneath that shirt. He shook his head and turned to the next page in his text for tonight. Not a good place for his mind to go. The guy had a date rape drug in his system for godssakes, what was he thinking…even if he was bi, it didn't mean he'd be interested in him.

_Wednesday, September 24, 2014_

_Hisagi/Kira's home_

9:30 am

Ichigo was warmer than he had been in so long. He was so comfortable. Arms were around him and he just melted into them. He was on his side and snuggled his face into someone's shoulder, and it smelled so delightful, like jasmine flowers. He hadn't dreamed last night and it felt so nice to have that happen. The arms tightened around his back and then the second pair tightened around his waist and he realized someone was lying against his back as well. He hummed happily because it felt so very nice. Then he gasped and suddenly felt trapped. It was a strange thing, to go from happy to absolute panic so quickly.

He started to try and get away from the arms that were holding, no trapping, him and he started to panic more.

"Stop, Ichi-ai," came a familiar voice. "Calm, calm," and he opened his eyes and found himself staring into Kira's face. "Calm down," he said, petting his hair gently. "You're with me, remember? Me and Shuuhei?"

Ichigo swallowed and nodded, grabbing him tightly with his arms and panting for air. He didn't know what caused the panic, there was no reason for it really, but he was so afraid so suddenly. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Kira pushed him back. "Don't, Ichi-ai, you have nothing to be sorry for."

Hisagi, likewise, clutched him from behind. "Please, you're safe and we're not going to let anything happen," he said, suddenly very comfortable saying it. "We're going to see Mistress Cybelle today, to talk things over, okay? Remember? We filled out our papers and all three of us are going," he said, setting his chin on Ichigo's shoulder.

Ichigo nodded, still nervous, but he didn't know why, these people were going to keep him safe, help him, love him, even. They weren't like Master Black, they weren't going to humiliate him, and hurt him, and tell him such awful things to make him shake and cry when he left the room.

Kira smiled and got up, pulling Ichigo from the bed. "Let's shower, okay? We'll go with you, if that's okay?" he said.

Ichigo nodded, stepping off and following Kira into the large bath with Hisagi behind. Hisagi started unbuckling the collar and his hands went to it. "Shh, we're not taking it," he said, rubbing his hands gently. "You can't shower with it, babe," Hisagi said, laying it on the counter and taking off the cuffs.

Kira unbuttoned his pajama top and carefully pulled it away, frowning as he began to peel the bandages off his back. Hisagi worked on the ones on his chest, only a couple, as most the damage had been to his back and legs. Then they helped him out of the pajama bottoms and his boxers and Ichigo, a week before, might have felt strange being naked in front of others, it didn't faze him in the least now, he just blinked and looked up at Hisagi who smiled at him, having pulled the bandages from the front of his thighs where some bright red lash marks still hadn't healed up.

"Are you okay?" Kira asked, pulling off the ones on his buttocks and the backs of his thighs.

Ichigo nodded, but his eyes had gone back to the ground, and Hisagi lifted his face up and looked at him. "You can speak here, remember?"

"Y-yeah," he said quietly. "It's just…you know…being…like this…I…"

Kira put a gentle hand on the small of his back, one of the few places he wasn't marked, and smiled at him. At least he knew not to strike places that could lead to real injury. He also noted that the other sensitive areas of Ichigo's body were not covered in the deepest strikes. Over his kidneys, the small of his back, his lower belly and the sides of his neck near the veins were either not marked or marked lightly or with obvious care.

"I know, when you were like this before, it was for Master Black."

Ichigo nodded, trying not to avoid Kira's eyes. Kira smiled, stripping himself and looking at Hisagi who was staring at him. "I'm not showering in my clothes, Shuu, but feel free if you want to," he said, dropping his clothes in the hamper. "Or you can skip showering with us and take a shower later, I'm not going to insist, but you'll have to get used to this if you're going to be involved."

Hisagi stripped quickly without another word and followed as Kira took him to the shower. His only fear was getting an obvious problem while showering with Ichigo. That was not appropriate at this time. Ichigo was staring at Kira's body as he got into the shower, then his gaze shifted to Hisagi's body. Hisagi glanced at Kira who shrugged. Hisagi smiled and nodded to Ichigo.

"I'm sorry," Ichigo said, glancing toward his feet again, realizing he'd been staring at both of them and blushing.

Kira sighed, and lifted his chin as Hisagi turned on the shower. "Don't be sorry. You didn't see Master Black like this, did you?"

Ichigo shook his head. "He kept most his clothes on all the time," he said quietly.

"He didn't want to be revealed in front of you, because it makes him vulnerable and exposed. By making you be naked in front of him while he was clothed, he was showing that he was above you. We feel no such need," Kira explained, washing Ichigo's hair as he spoke, smiling as he did so.

Kira couldn't explain it. This simple act, helping Ichigo shower, was so much more fulfilling than anything he'd ever done in his life. He ran his hands through Ichigo's hair and he swore the boy practically purred at the feeling, at the positive attention more than anything. He felt rough patches on his scalp, no doubt where Aizen had ripped pieces of hair from his scalp. Anger flashed inside him. That wasn't the way to treat him. He needed to be treated with care, with adoration, and he would flourish. Pain wasn't the way to Ichigo's heart, and he knew it.

Hisagi was watching mesmerized by his friend he thought he knew so well. Now, he was standing naked in a shower, thankfully large shower, with his best friend, and he found himself not bothered at all by this fact. What they shared stood between them, looking completely lost and alone one moment, and then completely content the moment he was given attention he needed and craved. Hisagi washed himself quickly then began washing Ichigo's unmarred skin with the special soap that had been sent home with them from the hospital that was safe for his healing wounds. He winced as he washed the purple to brown bruising on his arms and wrists. He understood that people enjoyed this sort of thing, but it was obvious that Ichigo didn't.

"Ichi-babe?" Hisagi asked, and Ichigo tilted his head toward him, though he still had his eyes closed as Kira rinsed the soap from his hair. "Was there anything that Master Black did that you liked?" he said thoughtfully. After filling out the sheets he was curious. "Not what he told you to like, what you actually liked?"

Ichigo swallowed hard and frowned. "I…I don't know…I put it on that list," he said, though blushed brightly in the warm water, and Hisagi smirked at Kira who raised a brow at him.

"Alright, babe, we'll talk about it later," Hisagi said, taking the hand sprayer and helping rinse all three of them off. Kira reached out and grabbed two towels, wrapping one around Ichigo and handing one to Hisagi before he led Ichigo out and grabbed his own.

"Stay there, Ichi-ai," he said. "Let me dress real quick, then we'll bandage your back and legs again," he said gently, patting the small of his back. He nodded as both Kira and Hisagi got into their clothes. Hisagi looked at him. "I'll grab him a pair of my jeans and a t-shirt again. We're going to have to take him shopping later today," he said with a grin, taking off.

Kira nodded and led him over to the mirror and began putting the antiseptic on his back again and putting the smaller bandages over the worst wounds. The smaller ones should air, he knew. Then he took his towel away and took care of the ones along his backside and thighs. They were much worse than the ones on his back. He had to wonder how in the world he could even begin to sit comfortably… Hisagi came back and handed him a pair of boxers and jeans and they helped him into them. Hopefully, once the worst of the painful tears in his back and legs healed, he'd be able to dress himself easier. As it was, bending over for him was still painful and pulled on the scabbing wounds and the stitches in the worst of them.

He stood up. "Presentable," Kira said but Ichigo looked distraught and Kira smiled, reaching behind him and buckling the leather collar back onto him. He smiled, just a tad, and Kira could feel him relax as he gave him his hands to put the cuffs back on him.

"Okay, we've got a couple hours before we meet the Mistress, why don't we go ahead and stop at the mall on our way there?" Kira said, thinking that Ichigo would be much happier with something of his own rather than wearing their clothes.

Ichigo wrung his hands a bit. "If…if you think it's okay…I don't…I don't have any money," he said, looking between them.

"We're taking care of you, remember?" Kira said, putting an arm carefully around him and gently pushing him out of the bathroom to get his shoes downstairs.

Isshin and the girls were at the table as they came down. Ichigo froze for a second, at first trying to avoid their gaze but then managed a small smile.

"G-good morning," he said finally.

Isshin got up and came forward. "How are you this morning, son?"

"Okay, we're going to get some clothes at the m-mall…and then to see…M-mistress Cybelle…" he said, looking between his father and his sisters.

Karin and Yuzu looked at their father. "Can we go with them?" Yuzu said with a grin.

Isshin started to say something but Kira smiled and spoke up. "Of course, might be a tight squeeze in my car, but we can take you with us. No problem at all. Though you'll have to hang out at the club while we're speaking to Imelda in the back, I'm afraid you can't be involved with that, girls."

Karin and Yuzu smiled and nodded, looking at Isshin who sighed and nodded. "Listen to Kira and Hisagi, please, girls," he said.

The girls both nodded, just happy to spend time with Ichigo, and were a little confused when he clung to Hisagi's hand at the car. Hisagi nodded as Kira got in the driver's seat. "Um, Karin, want to take shotgun on the way, then Yuzu can have it on the way home?" he asked as Yuzu climbed in the back.

Karin frowned but got in the front while Hisagi slid into the middle, letting Ichigo take the spot behind Kira. The nerves were obvious at having his sisters see him like this. He adjusted and Hisagi frowned, glancing down. Ah, his knee, he realized, seeing that he was trying to get into a comfortable position. He realized that revealing pain was likely hard for him to do.

"Izzy, pull up a bit, you're cramping Ichi-babe's legs a bit," Hisagi said. Ichigo started to say something, obviously that it wasn't a problem but Hisagi put a finger up. "No, I can see it is bothering you, so no nonsense about how it isn't." Ichigo blushed a bit and looked down at his hands. Hisagi reached over and grasped one. "Hey, none of that, either," he said.

Karin cleared her throat and looked over at Kira. "So, is this a big mall?"

"Oh yeah, called the Mills, a huge outlet mall," Kira said with a smile from the front.

The rest of the trip was small talk about the malls in the area, and Kira promising there was something there for everyone, even the sports aficionado that Karin was. They only had about two hours, but that would be plenty time to get a small fall wardrobe for Ichigo started. Kira also intended to make a stop at a special store or two while Hisagi and the girls were picking out clothes for him.

They pulled in and as usual, the crowds made Ichigo nervous. That, however, wasn't new. Crowds had always made him nervous, and now it was simply worse. He picked at the cuff on one of his wrists. Hisagi took one of his hands and Kira the other and smiled at him. He nodded nervously as they headed in. Karin and Yuzu talked about everything they saw in Japanese since they knew both Hisagi and Kira understood them. Every once in a while, Ichigo would chime in response to something or ask a question of his own. The got to an American Eagle store and headed to the young men's department and Kira smiled at Hisagi.

"I've got to go grab a couple things, pick him out whatever he wants," he said, handing over a card. "You know my code. No limit, got it?"

Hisagi nodded. "Got it. What are you using?"

Kira held up a credit card. "One my dad gave me."

He went over and put his hands on Ichigo's shoulders and kissed his cheek, surprising him. "Ichi-ai, I'll be back, get whatever you like, and I'll be back in no more than half an hour, okay?"

Ichigo nodded and blushed brightly to which both his sisters giggled. Before long, they had quite a pile of mixed clothes. Ichigo kept saying it was too much and Hisagi told him he had to have clothes of his own because he couldn't wear his jeans forever, they didn't fit right. After a while a lady came over to ask if they needed help.

Hisagi smiled at her and shook her head. "Nope, we're fine, just getting a wardrobe for Ichi here," he said patting him on the shoulder very lightly. Ichigo turned to her and gave her a shy smiled and continued chatting to his sisters in Japanese. Hisagi chimed in here and there with his opinion. His opinion mostly influenced him to buy things that showed off his cute ass.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" she asked, frowning as she looked at Ichigo with a narrowed glance.

Ichigo turned back and looked at her. "Um, no, fine," he said in English. "Just…need clothes, is all," he said, glancing to Hisagi who shrugged at him.

Hisagi had no idea why the lady wouldn't buzz off. She finally stepped away, but Hisagi noticed she hovered close by. He rolled his eyes. Great, just like the waitress, another nosy bitch. And this time they didn't have police back up. He glanced over at Ichigo. Of course, a lot of his bruises were on bright display along his arms and when the girls were having him try on jackets, flashes of the darker bruising and red lash marks could be caught her or there on his body. Not that the huge now fading to green bruise where his cheekbone had cracked wasn't enough.

Hisagi sighed because nosy retail worker was joined by nosy department store security guard. He was plain clothed, but Hisagi knew the stance and the fact he had a walkie-talking kind of gave him away. He hoped he kept his distance. Ichigo couldn't take an assertive male figure, which is why they'd agreed for the girls to come. Hisagi knew this drill though. The guy had no right to do anything unless he believed they were shoplifting. Even then, legally he couldn't do anything unless they left the store without paying for merchandise. He was in criminal justice, after all. However, he knew that these security guys could often be assholes on a power trip, so he kept an eye on him.

"Onii-chan!" Yuzu said coming toward him holding up a t-shirt. "You'd look good in this!" she said, grabbing his left forearm by the wrist and pulled him around. He gasped and yelped at the touch, and she looked shocked.

"Oh, sorry, Onii-chan!" she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

He shook his head, rubbing his wrist over the leather cuff; it covered most of the purple marks around it. "It's the bad one right now, no problem," he said, smiling at her.

Hisagi was pulling off some jeans and didn't notice the security guy come up from the other side of Ichigo. Ichigo turned around and gasped, almost walking right into the larger man. Behind him, the nosy shop girl was standing with her arms crossed. Ichigo dropped what he was holding and took a step back and looked panicked. So, of course, being the proper security guard the guy was not, he grabbed him to stop him from bolting. He looked up at him and started hyperventilating almost immediately. Hisagi was about to turn around when he heard the plaintive "Master," from behind him. He turned and immediately flushed in anger. He saw that both Karin and Yuzu were staring at the guy confused, and Hisagi took two steps forward and looked at the guy.

"Let him go," Hisagi said, looking at him. "Now."

The security guard looked at Hisagi. "He was trying to run for some reason, so no, I think we'll take him to the security office for a little search and questioning."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and he looked at Hisagi. "N-no…Master!" he said, looking at him. It was the first time he'd called either Kira or Hisagi that, and while Hisagi wasn't keen on the name, he was reverting to comfortable behaviors. Hisagi looked at Ichigo evenly and kept himself calm.

"Ichi-babe, be calm, I'm right here, okay?" he said softly, seeing both the shop woman and the security guard glare at him. "He's not going to hurt you, okay?" Ichigo whimpered in response, trembling. "And he has no right to make you go anywhere."

Karin glared at the guy. "You bastard, let him go," she said, putting both hands on her hips. Karin was really wishing she knew more cuss words in English. Boy she would let him have it in Japanese, though.

"Listen, miss, you keep out of this, or I'll have you picked up by the cops and taken home to your parents, you shouldn't be running around by yourself here anyway," the shop woman said.

Karin turned to her. "Oh no you didn't, bitch. This is my brother, and you will let him go before I plant my third degree black belt foot in your ass, you jackass," she said, turning to face the man with a glare. "And trust me you will not get up again for a while."

The guard looked at her. "Are you threatening me?" he asked, glaring at her.

"You bet your ass, I am," she said. "Now, let him go. You aren't going anywhere with him alone."

"See, see, I told you, he's being abused and they're hiding it!" the shop woman said. "Just look at him! Get him to the office so he can tell you the truth, Jake," she said, sneering at them.

Yuzu now glared at her. "You whore!" she said. Karin sighed exasperated. That was totally not an appropriate insult. "You dare say something like that."

The shop woman gasped and looked at the guard who was still holding onto Ichigo's arm. "Come on, kid, best you come with us and let us know what's going on, okay? We're just trying to help you here," he said and Ichigo tried to pull away again, shaking his head. "And I can do this just fine. I suspect shoplifting," the security guard said with a grin at Hisagi.

Hisagi frowned. "Fine, you want to do this the hard way, fine," he said, pulling out his phone. He knew the asshole couldn't be manhandling Ichigo, he shouldn't even be touching him, let alone claiming to have seen him shoplifting. He wasn't going to argue, he had to just hope there was an officer in the mall.

"Captain Zaraki, please," he said. There was a pause. "Ken, we've got an issue with another asshole who thinks they know shit they don't. I need someone down where I am asap. Don't care who it is, any uniform will due. Oh? That's perfect." He gave the store they were in and hung up, crossing his arms.

"Who did you call?" Jake the asshole security guard asked.

"Oh, captain of the homicide division, he's sending someone over to talk to you," he said.

A few minutes later, Hisagi looked up to see Estrella in street clothes. He waved at her and she came over and frowned the minute she got near. She looked at Hisagi.

"Shuuhei, what's going on?" she asked.

"The security guard thinks it is in Ichi-babe's best interest to take him and have a one on one talk about his situation by using the excuse he's shoplifting to do it," Hisagi said, glaring at him.

Estrella looked at the security guard. "Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"My job, sweetheart, who do you think you are?" he said.

"Your job isn't to harass customers, and my name's not sweetheart," she said, pulling out her badge and showing it to him. "It's _Detective_ Estrella Navarro, and I was on the case that got this young man out of a bad situation this weekend. So you really need to back the fuck up," he said with a snarl stepping forward and extracted Ichigo's arm from him. "You know as well as I do you can't detain someone for shoplifting unless you, one see them shoplift, and two, they leave the store with the items. And you damn sure can't manhandle someone."

The second Ichigo got away and ran to Hisagi and buried his face in his chest and started to pant heavily, panic edging black into his vision. He was on his way into a full scale panic attack and he felt like the world was caving in on him. He couldn't get his breathing under control and he was scared out of his mind. His heart was going to explode, and he was wondering if it was indeed possible to jump out of his skin.

"Shit, shit," Hisagi muttered, dropping with him to the ground. "Karin, bag, there, the front pocket, syringe, now," he said.

Karin fumbled through it and pulled it out. Hisagi popped the cap and injected him through the thigh and handed it back. "Sharps container in there, toss the needle in it. Hey, Ichi-babe?" he said, lifting Ichigo's face. "Okay?"

Estrella turned to the man who was staring openly now. "Feel good about yourself? Both of you?" she said, glaring between them.

"But…I thought…he looks…" the woman stammered.

"Yeah, and it is already all over the fucking news because dipwads like you couldn't keep their fucking traps shut, so you can satisfy your morbid curiosity that way. I'm sure there will be all the disgusting details of what happened to him and the other victims, like always. Do you have no tact whatsoever? He's trying to get back to a normal life and people like you are the biggest goddamn problem. He can't stay inside until every mark is gone, and you need to fucking mind your own business!" she said, glaring at them. "This will be reported to management, and as I stand here, I'll see you both fired, now leave."

Both of them left, looking shocked. Estrella kneeled beside Hisagi and Ichigo. "Hey are you okay?" she asked, putting a hand on Ichigo's shoulder very gently.

Ichigo was much calmer. Of course, a shot of valium tended to do that. "Better, I'm sorry, he just…when he grabbed me…I just…"

"Shh," she said, helping him stand with Hisagi. Ichigo took a deep breath. "I think…I'm okay now, a little tired, but okay."

Hisagi looked at her. "How did you get here so fast?" he asked.

Estrella smirked. "I'm off duty actually; I was shopping down at the bookstore when I got a call from Captain Zaraki asking if I was near the mall. He knows me well, I spend my spare time in only a few places, and this bookstore is one of them. I like to read adventure books in my spare time, and the bookstore always seems to have some good rock climbing and fitness guides."

They gathered the clothes and headed to the checkout and about the time they were done, Kira had returned, without a bag, but he was so angry his ears turned pink when he heard what had happened. Estrella assured him that things would be handled, and not to worry. They bid her farewell and headed back to the car for their contract meeting with Mistress Cybelle.

_Wednesday, September 24, 2014_

_Imelda's club_

12:30 pm

They got to the back door of the club and knocked lightly. It was answered once again by the man with black and red hair. He smiled at them and nodded. "Master Kira, Master Hisagi, please, come this way. You have other companions?" he said, looking at Karin and Yuzu.

Kira nodded. "This is Karin and Yuzu," he said, pointing to them in turn. "I know the club isn't open, and I was hoping it would be okay if they came, but they're Ichi-ai's sisters, and…"

"Of course, Master Kira. Master Cyr's sister is in the main club waiting for him as well. They are more than welcome to stay out there with her," he said, nodding and backing away. "Masters, if you will go down to the last room, I will escort the ladies to the front."

Kira nodded and smiled. "Thank you," he said, taking Ichigo's hand and heading down the hall.

"Come this way," he said. "I am Edrad, or Leo, I belong to Master Treppadora," he said, nodding and leading them to the larger open club area.

At an area with couches and coffee tables near the front, sat a pair of other young women. One was slender with a head of long curly blonde hair and the other was rather plain looking with brown hair and staring away. Edrad bowed slightly and left. Yuzu and Karin shrugged and went over where the other two women sat. The blonde wore a nice, ankle length broomstick skirt in fall orange and red, and a matching red peasant style blouse; perfect for the cooling fall weather, but still comfortable enough if it warmed. She wore a pair of simple sandals to compliment the outfit. Her companion had plain, shoulder length brown hair and glasses, making her look very plain in comparison to her companion. She wore a nice tunic style shirt in black and a simple pair tailored gray slacks with sandals.

"Hi!" Yuzu said and sat down opposite of them. Karin smiled and nodded. She felt like she was dressed down in her jeans and t-shirt. Yuzu at least was wearing a pencil skirt and a white blouse. Granted, Karin didn't wear skirts, but she could have dressed a little nicer if she'd wanted.

"Oh, hello," the blonde woman said. "I'm Cosette, and this is my girl, Lavender. I've not seen you here before."

Karin shook her head. "I'm Karin; this is twin sister Yuzu, my brother's in the back with someone named…Mistress Cybelle or something."

"Oh, goodness, really? So is my brother, Narcisse. He told me about Izuru, are you his sisters?" she said with a smile. Beside her, the other girl looked rather uncomfortable and didn't look at Karin and Yuzu.

"No, Kira and Hisagi are taking Ichigo, our brother back to work out details of whatever this is all about," Yuzu said with a nod. "We just went shopping with him, but it wasn't very nice because this mean security guard was rude to us."

Cosette frowned slightly. "My, that's not good at all. What happened?"

Karin sighed. "Ani is still bruised a lot, so people stare at him, and this nosy woman thought she should get the security guard to take him to the back. He freaked out on them. He has anxiety anyway and after that Aizen guy…"

"Oh, yes, Narcisse told us about that! I'm so sorry that happened to your brother. This lifestyle isn't for everyone, we aren't into it and neither is our other brother, Narcisse's twin, Florian, but we do know that it is not supposed to be like that at all," she said with a sad smile.

Karin and Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, sucks," Karin said, looking around.

The mousy looking girl beside Cosette spoke up very softly. "Wasn't Florian coming too?" she said, and Karin recognized the slight British accent to her voice.

"Yes, he did," Cosette said and looked at her phone. "Oh, no, he had a seizure this morning, I just got a text from Jackie saying he was asleep."

"Ah, too bad," Lavender said, nodding, leaning back into the couch.

Cosette smiled the girls. "The fun of having family, right?" she said with a smile. "You never know what's going to happen, and sometimes plans made aren't fulfilled, right?" She paused. "You came to help your brother after what happened?" she asked, looking between them.

"Yeah, when the police called, they sent us plane tickets and we flew from Japan immediately," Yuzu said. "I love Ani so much, I don't want him to hurt…I hope this…stuff doesn't hurt him."

Cosette smiled softly. "My dear, don't fret. From what I understand your Kira is much like my brother. He wants to love and nurture, not humiliate and hurt. I believe your brother should be well taken care of."

Karin sighed, looking away. "I hope so," she muttered, still unsure about the whole thing.


End file.
